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The committee rejected the radical left group's proposal for parliament to revoke its go-ahead last year for the sale-off of 15 state-owned companies on the ground that a continuation could have harmful effects.

The party argues that the decision for the privatisations had been taken without a prior thorough analysis of the companies' operations in the long term and without assessment of economic, social and fiscal effects of sale.

The government meanwhile insists that a halt in privatisation could lead to damages suits, deter foreign investors, undermine the quality of bids, as well as reduce Slovenia's credit ratings.

This would in turn mean costlier borrowing, while Slovenia could also fail to meet its commitments to the EU, presaging financial sanctions that would cause severe liquidity problems, decline in the country's competitiveness and credibility.

ZL deputy group leader Luka Mesec flatly rejected the arguments as scaremongering today, reminding the ruling SMC party that it had promised "prudent privatisation" ahead of the election.

Describing the ongoing privatisation process was "reckless" and "panicky", Mesec said 6,200 jobs and the country's development depended on the current sale-off plan.

State Secretary Metod Dragonja, who is responsible for public assets, labelled the ZL-sponsored proposal as ideological and Mesec's arguments as "much too light", saying they did not reflect the complexity of the situation.

He said that the government was drawing up a strategy for the management of state assets to balance off various aspects of privatisation, including fiscal, social and developmental.

The only party to side with the ZL in some aspects was the coalition Social Democrats (SD), whose MP Franc Križanič referred the coalition agreement pledge of controlled, strategic and well thought-through privatisation.

The former finance minister said that the SD therefore agreed with the ZL on the need to reconsider the sale-off of the rest of companies from the list slated for privatisation.

Of the 15 companies, four have already been sold, most recently airport operator Aerodrom Ljubljana, with the privatisations of national telecoms operator and the NKBM bank expected to be completed early next year.

Head of the deputy group of the opposition New Slovenia (NSi) Matej Tonin insisted that the process should continue as planned, also because state companies in Slovenia were badly managed.

Marko Pogačnik of the opposition Democratic Party (SDS) meanwhile urged the government to adopt the strategy and classification of state assets as soon as possible, hoping it would consult the opposition and social partners.

The coalition SMC and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) argued that privatisation was needed for Slovenia to break out of the crisis.