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Dec 4 (Reuters) - The Slovenian parliament passed a
long-delayed pension reform on Tuesday aimed at helping the
small euro zone member state to manage its finances without
having to seek an international bailout.
Trade unions and other citizens now have 7 days during which
they can demand a referendum on the new law which could prevent
its planned enforcement on Jan. 1, 2013.
So far no trade union had said it would demand a referendum
but last year a similar reform prepared by the previous
centre-left government was rejected at a referendum demanded by
trade unions which led to the fall of the government and early
elections.
The pension reform, prepared by the new conservative
government of the Prime Minister Janez Jansa, was supported by
all 76 parliamentary members who were present at the vote. The
parliament has a total of 90 members.
The new law will gradually raise the retirement age to 65
from 58 at present and cut budget spending on pensions by 1
billion euros ($1.3 billion) over the next five years.
"The pension law has been coordinated with the social
partners, among them trade unions, as much as possible ... It
ensures financial stability of the pension system and
undisturbed payments of the pensions," Labour Minister Andrej
Vizjak told parliament before the vote.
Slovenia, which is burdened by recession, high unemployment
and bad loans at local banks, managed to issue its first
sovereign bond in 19 months in October, raising enough to avert
a bailout for at least six months.
The government plans to cut public sector wages and jobs,
reduce most social benefits and cut spending on schools and
health institutions in order to reduce the budget deficit to
about 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 from 4.2
percent seen this year.
However, two of its reform laws, which would enable faster
privatisation, have been stalled by a trade union and an
opposition party which demand referendums claiming the laws
could lead to a hasty selloff and raise corruption risks.
The government has asked the Constitutional Court to ban the
referendums, claiming the laws are crucial to ensure Slovenia's
financial stability.
Street protests against local and state governments,
corruption and budget cuts started last month and have turned
violent in several cities. On Monday evening police arrested 141
protesters around the country and at least 30 policemen and
civilians were injured in the clashes.
Slovenia, whose export-driven economy has been badly hit by
the global and euro zone crises, expects GDP to contract by 2
percent this year and by a further 1.4 percent in 2013 as budget
cuts and economic weakness across the euro zone deter household
and corporate spending.
($1 = 0.7642 euros)
(Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)