By: Sara Kovač / Nova24TV
The proposal for a law on aid to the economy to mitigate the consequences of the energy crisis does not solve the basic problem of the high offers for electricity leases for 2023. The government regulation on the pricing mechanism did not affect the offers, so the effect of the law will also be extremely modest, according to employers’ organisations.
“Despite subsidies, companies will pay many times higher electricity prices than their competitors in neighbouring countries. Thus, they will be forced to reduce energy consumption also by reducing production, which will lead to the dismissal of redundant workers, which no one in companies wants,” as announced by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS), the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce (OZS), the Chamber of Crafts and Small Business of Slovenia (TZS), the Employers’ Association of Slovenia (ZDS), and the Association of Employers in Crafts and Small Business of Slovenia (ZDOPS), they wrote in a call to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Economy, Infrastructure, Finance and Labour.
In case of layoffs, even the measure of subsidising temporary waiting for work will not be sufficient, as according to the proposal, it will be limited to a maximum of 30 working days. “Companies that will be forced to reduce or stop production will lose business that cannot be replaced in such a short time, if at all,” they warned.
As they say, without consulting the representatives of the economy, they introduced an additional restriction in the proposal that companies that have leased electricity or gas for 2023 at a price of up to 150 or 79 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), will only be entitled to simple aid, i.e., to the smallest of the five foreseen forms of aid. With this measure, the government essentially set the lower limit of the promised corridor, but not the upper limit, which is what companies have been demanding and expecting from the very beginning, they wrote.
“The Slovenian economy does not need budget money. But it needs competitive and comparable conditions, as companies in other countries have. A successful economy is a prerequisite for social well-being,” they stated and expressed the expectation that the government, in the process of adopting the law in the National Assembly, will change the controversial articles and provide the economy with “the help it deserves, otherwise the announced billion-dollar aid to the economy will remain just a dead letter on paper”.