FinMin Faces Ousting Motion on Wednesday
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The interpellation motion against Finance Minister Uroš Čufer will be debated on Wednesday, with a total of 16 hours earmarked to debate the allegations of the opposition Democratic Party (SDS) against the minister and Čufer's response.
In the first motion to oust a minister of the current government, the SDS took aim at Čufer for the dismissal of the party's MP as a non-executive director of Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC). The opposition is also critical of the decision to provide state guarantees for the controlled liquidation of two small banks, Probanka and Factor banka.
Čufer has rebuffed the opposition's accusations, arguing that the decision on an orderly wind-down of the two banks was needed to retain trust in the ailing banking system, as a collapse could have led to a bank run.
He has also maintained that the dismissal of SDS deputy Andrej Šircelj from the BAMC position was based on the view of the government legal service and the Corruption Prevention Commission that the position was incompatible with serving as an MP.
The ousting motion is not expected to be the only item on the agenda that will see the opposition and coalition square off, as a debate on the bill providing compensation to the erased is scheduled for Tuesday.
The bill is scheduled to undergo second reading after the parliamentary Interior Affairs Committee debated around 40 amendments on 5 November. In line with a key amendment filed by the coalition, the monthly sum of compensation would be raised from the originally proposed EUR 40 to EUR 50.
In addition to the allotted compensation, the erased would be able to seek restitution in court if they can prove that damages caused to them are above the EUR 50 a month. In such instances, restitution would be capped at 3-times offered by the state (2.5-times in the original proposal).
The bill has been criticised by organisations representing the people illegally erased from Slovenia's permanent residence registry in 1992 as not going far enough in righting the wrongs of the erasure. The opposition meanwhile fears it lacks sufficient controls for paying out compensation.
Although the bill has been drawn up in response to the demand of the European Court of Human Rights for a comprehensive compensation scheme, the opposition argues that it goes too far in providing compensation and does not sufficiently guarantee that the scheme will not be abused by those who should not get compensation.
An amendment filed by the opposition People's Party (SLS) which was quashed at committee demanded that those entitled to compensation prove that they did not side with the Yugoslav Army during Slovenia's independence war.
The November plenary is scheduled to start on Monday with the monthly questions time to Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek and her cabinet.
In addition to the bill on compensation to the erased, MPs will debate at second reading changes to the acts on political parties and election campaigning proposing a ban on political donations by companies on Tuesday.
On Thursday the National Assembly is scheduled to fast-track the bill on the payment of a delayed pay increase for public servants.
The debate was scheduled at the last minute after the government reached a deal with public servants last week on paying out around EUR 120m in pay rises from the third of four stages of pay increases agreed on in 2008, which were subsequently suspended in 2010 due to the crisis.
Also on Thursday, deputies will go over tweaks to welfare legislation that the government has proposed in order to overcome teething problems in the implementation of a comprehensive set of new welfare laws implemented in 2011.
The National Culture Programme for 2014-2017 will be debated on Friday, before the National Assembly suspends the session until 27 November, when lawmakers will return to the benches to debate changes to insolvency legislation.