Politics, / By STA

Ljubljana - The National Assembly will have several major bills on the agenda of the plenary session this week.

Among those bills will be amendments to the act on the prevention of corruption, bills on the promotion of tourism and investments, and a bill recognising the collective cultural rights of ethnic communities from former Yugoslav republics.

Following the customary Q&A session with Prime Minister Miro Cerar and his cabinet on Monday, the MPs will debate on Tuesday amendments to the act on the special rights of the constitutionally recognised Italian and Hungarian minorities.

The legislation, at second reading, brings stricter language requirements for teachers at bilingual schools and mandates that the state finance teacher-training programmes at university.

The agenda on Tuesday also includes the second reading of amendments to the claim enforcement act which introduce online auctions of confiscated property and tighter restrictions on the sale of debtors' homes.

On Wednesday, the MPs will scrutinise at second reading amendments to the act on the promotion of investments that would put domestic and foreign investors on equal footing.

The debate is likely to be heated since one of the provisions would make it easier to expropriate land owners even for smaller investment projects, which has been met with fierce opposition from NGOs and the opposition.

The agenda for Wednesday includes a bill on the promotion of tourism development which gives municipalities greater leeway in setting local tourist tax and introduces a new fee whose proceeds will be used for promotional activities.

Thursday has been reserved for government amendments to the energy law introducing a special rate that power plants will be allowed to charge for the basic balancing of supply and demand of electricity.

On Friday MPs will debate of a bill recently proposed by several MPs of the coalition that would grant cultural rights of ex-Yugoslav minorities in Slovenia and establish a special government office for liaising with these communities.

The session wraps up on 20 February with the first reading of amendments to the act on integrity and the prevention of corruption.

While the government thinks the bill will improve decision-making at the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the watchdog has dismissed the amendments as failing to address the key problems.