While official talks among the four potential coalition partners are not scheduled for Wednesday, talks behind the scenes are reportedly ongoing, while parties are also internally reviewing the progress made in the talks so far.

Unofficially, progress has been made on the key potential stumbling block to a new government: the future of the bad bank and the sovereign holding. The parties have reportedly come to a conclusion that an agreement on the two institutions is possible.

Key projects of the outgoing government in tackling the credit crunch and restarting the economy, the bad bank and sovereign holding have been opposed by two key partners in the emerging coalition, the Positive Slovenia (PS) and Social Democrats (SD).

But the Citizens' List (DL) of former Finance Minister Janez Šušteršič, who is credited with bringing them to life during his tenure in the outgoing government, has made the continuation of these projects a condition for entering a new government.

Šušteršič was among those negotiating details of a coalition deal with the other partners on Tuesday, but was tight-lipped after the meeting.

While there were also no other official statements on the topic, unofficial information suggests that progress was achieved and that parties will now have to review the proposals made at the talks.

The four parties have already announced they would be holding internal meetings to take formal decisions on entering the new government in the coming days, after they receive the final draft of the coalition contract.

SD leader Igor Lukšič told a news conference today that his party would take a decision at a party conference on Saturday.

The DL and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), two former members of the outgoing government, have meanwhile said their executive bodies would be in session on Tuesday.

DL head Gregor Virant commented on the talks today by saying that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" and that all will be clear by next Thursday at the latest.

While reiterating that the bad bank and sovereign holding projects were a priority for the DL, Virant said that speculation that the SocDems have made concessions here was a "matter of interpretation."

According to him, everyone is "very much" aware that fixing the banks is a priority.

The PS, the biggest party in parliament and the heart of the emerging coalition, is meanwhile expected to take a final decision in the middle of next week.

Suggestions have appeared that leaders of the four parties could meet today and that talks in the coming days would focus mostly on the line-up of a new cabinet.

While the parties are not commenting, numerous media reports and unofficial information from persons close to the talks have suggested that the basic division of positions by parties has been agreed.

According to the reports, the PS will assume five ministerial posts, the SD and DL three each, and DeSUS two.

Moreover, the media continue to feverishly speculate on candidates to fill the hot seat of finance minister in a time when Slovenia struggles to fix its banks and restart its economy.

While former Finance Minister Dušan Mramor, now the dean of the Ljubljana Economics Faculty, and economist Igor Masten had been mentioned as possible candidates in previous days, the name of former bank executive Aljoša Tomaž surfaced on Wednesday.

Mramor said on Tuesday he had "nothing to say about this issue" and Masten has denied the speculation that he was a candidate.