The proposal will be negotiated further during the parliamentary procedure, according to PM Janez Janša, as the government wants the labour market reform as well as the pension reform implemented at the beginning of next year.

Changes to the employment relationships act envisage the scrapping of the initially proposed standard open-ended contract, but introduce stricter rules for fixed-term contracts.

This however remains to be negotiated by social partners, as employers oppose such a solution, striving for greater flexibility.

In line with the changes, the share of workers with fixed-term contracts in a company would be limited to 15% of all employees. But this cap would be subject to negotiations as part of talks on collective bargaining agreements.

The probational period of six months would remain in place with a seven-day notice period.

Apart from that, the changes introduce less complicated procedures for layoffs, including cutting of notice periods from the current maximum of 120 days to 60 days, which is even less than the original proposal (90 days).

Under the changes, severance pay system would remain similar to the existing model, while cuts would be introduced for employees that have worked for the same company less than 20 years.

Meanwhile, changes to the labour market regulation act would introduce temporary or odd jobs for the unemployed, those older than 50 and pensioners. This is also yet to be negotiated by social partners, as unions want this provision scrapped.

Such work would be limited to 60 hours per month, while the net pay would have to be at least EUR 3.36 per hour. Total net income per year would be capped at EUR 5,040. Employers would deduct a special contribution of 25% for active employment policies.

Under the changes, unemployment benefits would be cut by ten percentage points, from the current 80% to 70% of the basis for the first three months of unemployment, while it would remain at 60% for the following nine months and at 50% further on.

However, under the new proposal, the eligibility period would not be cut to 18 months but would remain at 25 months.