Estimated at EUR 3 billion, the package includes bonuses for vital staff and a pay cut for public office holders, and support measures for companies like pay compensation for temporary lay-offs, and tax and loan payment deferrals.

It also includes loan guarantees and financing of social contributions, temporary basic income for the self-employed and allowances for pensioners, large families and students.

The package, presented by the government on Sunday, was expected to be discussed and prepared for the plenary session of the National Assembly today, but this has proven to be impossible as the MPs apparently did not have enough time to go through it.

The opposition Left, Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) and Social Democrats (SD) proposed today as the Finance Committee session started that the National Assembly plenary be postponed for a day.

The proposal failed to garner sufficient support and the session continued, but committee members did not even have all the announced amendments on the table. The coalition alone has proposed more than 100 amendments and the opposition has come with amendments of its own.

Some six hours into the session, committee chair Robert Polnar of the coalition Pensioner's Party (DeSUS) said that the discussion was over for today and that it would be continued on Wednesday.

The plenary session of the National Assembly, originally scheduled for Wednesday at 10am, is to be held on Thursday, "but only if the committee concludes its work on Wednesday," Polnar said.

The government's plan is that the measures apply for April and May, with the possibility of extension until the end of June.

In today's debate, support was expressed by committee members from all deputy groups, while many of them also pointed to the possibility of abuse and considerable burden on public finances, and also proposed other beneficiaries.