Janša told the press that harmonisations on the bad bank and the holding laws had been going on for a long time, which had cost Slovenia a lot of money.

"There is no point in harmonizing with somebody who doesn't want to harmonise or someone who's saying these are bad solutions despite claiming otherwise before," he stressed, pointing to the thirty opposition MPs who filed a motion for referendums on the two laws on Tuesday.

"Never before has it happened that any law of the National Assembly had a veto voted by the National Council, a referendum initiative filed by unions, a referendum motion filed by the National Council or 30 MP signatures collected. This is the first time it happened," Janša noted.

The prime minister's comments come after opposition leader Zoran Janković and President Danilo Türk urged a deal under which the government would freeze the two laws in exchange for the opposition withdrawing the referendum requests.

Janša announced that the government and coalition would request a constitutional review of the demand for a referendum on the holding. The bad bank referendum request, meanwhile, was thrown out earlier today by parliamentary Speaker Gregor Virant because it contained scanned signatures instead of originals.

According to the prime minister, the bad bank and the Slovenia Sovereign Holding are two of the five key anti-crisis measures crucial for Slovenia's recovery.

He moreover warned that in case of a referendum, the government would also have to think about a plan B, because lower credit ratings do not only mean higher interest rates for Slovenia's loans, but also for loans of state institutions. The cabinet will have to carefully go through the future plans, also those in the budget, Janša stressed.

He also expressed concern that government reform efforts were being attacked at any cost, adding that the announced union protests did not smell so much of industrial action but of politics.