Page 64 - Central & Southeast Outlook 2020

2.11 ​Politics - Slovenia
Slovenia’s government led by Prime Minister Marjan Sarec, which came to power in September 2018, is on shaky legs ​after​t​he Left party (Levica) withdrew its support for the government in November 2019 due to disagreements over supplemental health insurance, which Levica wanted to be abolished.
The withdrawal of the Left party left the majority short of three MPs in the 100-seat parliament which will make it harder for Sarec to complete his four-year mandate.
Slovenia’s parliament endorsed the draft state budget for 2020-2021 on November 22 as Sarec managed to gain critical support from opposition parties which was the first test for the government. However, the obstruction continued in the upper house where the budget implementation was vetoed.
"The first test was passed, but the troubles do not end," Sarec wrote on Twitter at the time.
Opposition ​Slovenian Democratic Party​(SDS) leader Janez Jansa said he expects "an early election sooner or later" because the government coalition is running out of "sweets" to distribute among voters, "which will cause big trouble".
Nevertheless, Jansa does not expect an early election "very soon", saying voters are tired of elections and parties financially drained. He believes that the best option will be finding "a temporary solution”. The SDS is the largest party in the current parliament but was unable to find coalition partner to form a government.
According to the latest poll in December, the SDS has overtaken the List of Marjan Sarec (LMS) and is now in the lead again for the first time in months. The government's approval rating continues to drop.
Along with other countries in the region, notably Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia, Slovenia is facing an increased number of migrants as a​ccording to police data, the number of illegal border crossings rose rapidly in the first half of 2019, by 47% or 1,712 more than in the same period last year. Most of the ​migrants​came from Pakistan, Algeria and Morocco.
3.0​ ​Budget
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