OTE0002 / 25.11.2009 / 09:20 / Channel: Wirtschaft / Aussender: STA - Slovenska tiskovna agencija
Stichworte: International / Medien / Soziales / Unternehmen

STA organises debate entitled "The Crisis Will be Over What Next?"

Utl.: First in a series of events STA plans to organise under the brand STA
      Club - STA Debate Calls for Cooperation to Overcome Crisis =

   Ljubljana (OTS/STA) - STA general manager Bojan Veselinovic
addresses a panel on the economic crisis and the period after it
organised by the agency.

   The need for better dialogue and stronger cooperation among social
partners was highlighted as crucial for overcoming the economic
crisis in Slovenia at a debate organised by the Slovenian Press
Agency (STA) in Ljubljana on Monday.

   While the debate highlighted difference in opinions on whether the
crisis is over, participants agreed that cooperation among all
stakeholders was key to making Slovenia's economy more competitive.
President Danilo Tuerk, under whose patronage the debate was staged,
said that many of the measures needed to successfully overcome the
crisis were clear. These include resolute measures by the government,
a serious social dialogue and efforts to alleviate the burden on the
economy.

   "It is also known that we need social equality if we want to
maintain social cohesion, which is something that is needed to truly
overcome the crisis," said Tuerk.

   This was echoed by chairwoman of the SKB bank Cvetka Selsek, who
urged Slovenia to propagate "integration, positive energy and
forward-thinking".

   While some participants expressed conviction that the crisis was
already over, others said that 2010 would likely be another
challenging year, albeit not as difficult as 2009.
Economist Bernard Brscic said that the global economy would likely
suffer another fall before starting its recovery. But his colleague
from the Economics Faculty in Ljubljana Maks Tajnikar is of the
opinion that the crisis is over and that next year should be a
positive year.

   Likewise Finance Minister Franc Krizanic is upbeat about 2010,
although he announced that the government was keeping all options
open. He reiterated that the government would prop up economic growth
with Keynesian measures.

   The bosses of two of Slovenia's top companies highlighted that the
crisis would be truly over only once jobs lost during the crisis
would be recovered.

   "The crisis will not be over until consumers will fear for their
jobs, until unemployment continues to rise in Europe and the world,"
said chairman of home appliance maker Gorenje Franjo Bobinac.
Chairman of energy group Petrol Aleksander Svetelsek called for large
state investment projects to propel this recovery. He cited the
construction of a second railway line between the port city of Koper
and the railway hub of Divaca as an example of such a project.
Bobinac also said that the minimum wage in Slovenia should gradually
be increased to a level satisfactory for the basic costs of living.
Responding to this, the head of Slovenia's largest trade union said
that an increase in the minimum wage would force Slovenian managers
to look for other means of making their companies competitive aside
from labour costs. Dusan Semolic stressed that an increase in the
minimum wage was therefore urgent.

   Meanwhile, Tajnikar pointed to the need to respond to the
increasing stratification of society, which is slowly eroding at the
middle class as the main engine of consumption.

   The debate entitled "The Crisis Will be Over - What Next?" - which
was sponsored by the NKBM bank and Microsoft Slovenija - was the
first in a series of events STA plans to organise under the brand STA
Club for its partners and the general public.
STA general manager Bojan Veselinovc said on the occasion that this
way the agency wanted to contribute to the debate on important social
issues.

Photos please see: http://www.sta.si/en/foto.php?t=0&id=155982

Rückfragehinweis:
   STA Slovenska tiskovna agencij
   Alen Pivk,   Acting Editor-in-chief
   e-mail: gospodarstvo@sta.si
   Tel.: 00386 1 24 10 140

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OTE0002    2009-11-25/09:20

250920 Nov 09