The prime minister said the supplementary budget would not be adopted by the government on Thursday, as initially expected, because it would first be presented to the social partners on Friday.

Unofficially, she is expected to present the document to coalition partners on Wednesday. She is also to meet with the opposition before the budget is presented to the public.

Rumours recently resurfaced that Slovenia was being pushed by the European Central Bank (ECB) to accept a bailout, but Bratušek said the government was "doing everything" to avoid that despite potentially getting access to cheap financing for bank restructuring.

Bratušek also said in the interview that the planned real-estate tax, which is due to enter into force next year, would see "no exemptions", despite demands to the contrary by the Roman Catholic Church and farmers.

She also promised there would be no "crisis tax" on all types of income, which had been mulled in the event the government failed to secure sufficient revenue with other sources, nor unilateral interventions in minimum wages or additional cuts to pensions and social transfers.

The government will, however, push for the introduction of certified cash registers (special software to prevent tax evasion) in the event recently introduced changes that prevent the erasure of receipts fail to curb tax evasion.

Turning to party politics, Bratušek said her decision to run for president of the Positive Slovenia (PS) at the 19 October party congress was motivated by the need for political stability.

She also effectively reversed her long-held position that she would not seek the presidency if the former PS leader Zoran Jankovič seeks a return, saying she "may have underestimated the importance of political stability" when she made that claim.

It would not be unusual for a democratic party such as PS if there were multiple candidates, she said, convinced that "I will muster support at the congress considering that the fellow MPs and the PS council decided to take that route six months ago".