Vesel, an entrepreneur from Ribnica and a member of the economy committee at the Chamber of Craft and Small Business (OZS), will be formally appointed at the prime minister's office but will be able to work at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.

According to OZS, Vesel has worked in wood processing industry for 30 years and has been the head of the regional OZS branch in Ribnica for 14 years. He is also a member of the OZS management.

Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said at the beginning of the month that the planned changes to the government act envisaged a state secretary for small business at the ministry.

But since the changes have not be draw up yet, he decided to appoint a state secretary for small business in his office after Peter Vilfan resigned as sport state secretary there, making room for a new hire.

The government has thus heeded to the calls of the OZS, which Šarec said felt its voice was not heard well enough.

The OZS welcomed the appointment today, saying it expected Vesel to successfully address the problems of small businesses and help improve the business environment.

"Prime Minister Marjan Šarec showed with today's appointment that he can deliver on his promises and that he cares for Slovenian small businesses," OZS head Branko Meh said in a press release.

The OZS is happy that the "sector with 117,000 business entities employing 352,000 people, which are the backbone of the Slovenian economy, will finally get its representative in government."

The demand for a state secretary for small businesses was first presented by the OZS at the Forum of Craft and Small Business in May 2018. All political parties bar the Left pledged at the time that such a representative or even a minister for small business would be appointed.

However, at a session of the parliamentary Interior Policy Committee in mid-February most MPs voted against such an appointment, which upset the OZS. Šarec announced a day later he would name a state secretary for small businesses at his office.

The government also named today the state secretaries picked by the new health and environment ministers, Aleš Šabeder and Simon Zajc, who were appointed yesterday.

Tomaž Pliberšek, the head of the Radenci municipal administration, was appointed state secretary at the Health Ministry. Pliberšek, who has a PhD in construction, previously served as the director of administration at the Naklo municipality and used to lecture at Maribor University.

Zajc decided to keep incumbent State Secretary Aleš Prijon, who is in charge of spatial planning, and also appoint Marko Maver, who already works at the Environment Ministry.