Under the Fiscal Rule Act, the Fiscal Council is obliged to submit a report on its activities in the previous year to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia by the end of May each year. In accordance with this Act, which was adopted in June 2015 and amended in 2025 following the reform of the EU economic governance framework, the Fiscal Council is an independent and autonomous state body that prepares and makes publicly available assessments of the compliance of fiscal policy with fiscal rules.
In 2024, the Fiscal Council fulfilled all its obligations prescribed by the law. In doing so, it strove to ensure the transparency of public finances, cooperated with the media and institutions at home and abroad, and regularly monitored fiscal trends. In 2024, the Fiscal Council’s warnings focused mainly on the lack of accuracy in fiscal planning.
Following the reform of the economic governance framework at EU level, Slovenia has prepared a medium-term fiscal structural plan for 2025-2028 in 2024. In formal terms, this plan meets the requirements, as it keeps the deficit below -3% of GDP and the debt on a declining path toward 60% of GDP. In its assessment of the plan, the Fiscal Council concluded that fiscal trends are likely to remain in line with commitments this year. However, risks are increasing over time, particularly because the continued implementation of the wage agreement will significantly increase public expenditure. Geopolitical risks are also increasing, which could lead to lower revenues and higher expenditure, with all the resulting consequences for the public deficit and public debt.
Towards the end of last year, efforts to adopt a revised Fiscal Rule Act were stepped up as well. The Fiscal Council agreed with the proposal of the revised Act which was submitted by the Government to the National Assembly for consideration in 2025. The area which the Fiscal Council has made the greatest efforts to improve, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, is greater national ownership of medium-term budgetary planning. The final proposal of the Act thus maintains the existing important role of the National Assembly in decision-making and debate, and the role of the Fiscal Council in providing an independent assessment of medium-term budgetary documents and their implementation.
Effective implementation of the revised fiscal rules and responsible planning of the medium-term budgetary policy will be key to maintaining the stability of public finance. At the same time, it remains important to ensure transparency and realistic and consistent budgetary planning. The Fiscal Council will therefore continue to independently monitor these processes and draw attention to any deviations that might jeopardize the sustainability of public finance.