In the banking segment of the 2014-2015 reform recommendations issued to Slovenia at the beginning of this month, the country is called to sell NKBM, the no. 2 bank, by the end of 2014, and get Abanka Vipa, the third biggest bank, ready for privatisation in 2015.

The Commission moreover expects that a comprehensive action plan for the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC), the bad bank, is drawn up by August, including with a clarification of BAMC's powers and its comprehensive management strategy and business plan by September 2014.

According to the source, Slovenia wants softer deadlines and is for instance proposing a delay of the NKBM privatisation until 2015.

But the source said that the deadlines for NKBM as well as the bad bank remain unchanged; one can only expect a slightly altered wording on Abanka, but even here the core of the message remains the same.

Slovenian representatives wanted all deadlines in the bank recommendations removed, arguing this was market-sensitive information.

The source described this as ridiculous, saying that this information was available on all web pages and known to hundreds of thousands of people.

The recommendations issued to member states will be discussed on Wednesday by ambassadors to the EU and on Friday by EU finance ministers. At the end of the month they are expected to be confirmed by EU heads of state.