Parliamentary party leaders discuss flood relief measures

The leaders described the meeting as constructive, and Prime Minister Robert Golob said that it had showed that politicians could stand united when necessary.

"I want this national unity to last as long as possible and the recovery that will now take place to set an example for future generations on how to work together for the good of the people," said the prime minister and the head of the ruling party Freedom Movement.

Golob is confident that coordination between the coalition and opposition is excellent and that next week all of them together will draw up a law that will be even better than the draft proposal.

The emergency law will primarily bring measures that should have tangible effects as early as in September, he added.

Minister for Slovenians Abroad and deputy head of the Freedom Movement Matej Arčon announced that the party's deputy group would prepare additional measures, including issuance of government bonds to raise funds for the planned solidarity fund.

The party thinks that the Housing Fund could play a role in helping those who have lost their home in the floods two weeks ago.

Social Democrats (SD) leader Tanja Fajon noted the proposal to introduce "solidarity Saturdays", a measure under which companies would be able to donate their Saturday earnings to the recovery fund.

If the measure is adopted, every second Saturday of the month would be a "solidarity Saturday", which would mean four such days until the end of the year, the STA learnt.

The upcoming Bled Strategic Forum will join the efforts to raise donations for the affected communities, Fajon added before announcing a meeting with the representatives of banks and insurers next week to discuss the financial sources of the relief effort.

The opposition said that many of its proposals overlapped with those of the coalition.

Democrats (SDS) head Janez Janša believes that the government is moving "in the right direction with a two-tier approach", meaning first preparing urgent measures and then a special relief law.

He thinks that Slovenia should notify the European Commission of its intention to draw EU Recovery Fund loans as soon as possible, and he is happy that Golob said the government was considering doing this.

It is important to clean up streams before autumn rains, said Jernej Vrtovec, chair of the New Slovenia (NSi) council, as he advocated the idea of a solidarity fund, which could be independent or set up within the state-owned export and development bank SID Banka.

He also called for subsidising interest rates for the purchase of new machinery and equipment that would replace the damaged, and cutting red tape.

Substitute buildings for those who have been displaced due to the floods should be built without building permits in areas where they have been issued before in order to speed up the reconstruction, he added.

Luka Mesec, the head of the Left, welcomed the opposition's constructive attitude and expressed the hope that it may spread to some other topic as well.