While the coalition has been urging for a prompt adoption of the bill, the opposition has been pointing to the bill's incompatibility with other pieces of legislation and calling for more discussion. Opposition MPs were also bothered by the high number of amendments to the bill.

The bad bank should make it possible for the banks to clean up their balance sheets and start lending to businesses again as they are expected to be able to obtain financing from the European Central Bank.

Under the bill, banks' bad real-estate and commercial loans will be taken over by a special fund owned by a state-owned company set up with the bill.

The final decision on which bank to include in the scheme will be taken by the government, based on an initiative by the bank itself or the central bank, which will then be examined by a commission featuring five government representatives and two representatives of the central bank.

Finance Minister Šušteršič says the government will take into account three criteria in deciding which bank to include: the bank's importance, the impact of the individual loan on the bank's assets, and the urgency of the move in terms of capital adequacy.

If included in the scheme, the bank will have to draw up a programme outlining its strategy and, if the bank has private shareholders, "the share of the burden of resolving these bad claims that they will carry," according to Šušteršič.