STA, 13 June 2022 - The government could present measures to mitigate the rising cost of living as soon as Wednesday, Prime Minister Robert Golob told the press as he visited Maribor on Monday.
If all goes to plan, the first batch of measures may be presented on Wednesday, said Golob, also expressing confidence that the measures to tackle the rising cost of energy and food will be drafted by the end of the month at the latest.
Golob also said that the government will approach the issue in stages, starting with petrol and diesel, followed by electricity, food and gas at the end.
Infrastructure Minister Bojan Kumer meanwhile said today that the task force of several government ministers led by Golob had had "a rather busy working weekend, working intensively on different scenarios and measures".
Attending a ceremony marking the break-through of the first of several tunnels on the new Koper-Divača railway track, Kumer told the press that the next meeting of the task force is scheduled for tomorrow. "We will discuss all possibilities, measures and combinations thereof."
Meanwhile, public broadcaster Radio Slovenija reported that Golob will meet stakeholders in the energy market tomorrow, to present to them the array and the possible combinations of measures. The Delo newspaper also reported that a meeting with grocers and oil traders is scheduled for Wednesday.
Apart from Golob and Kumer, the task force also includes Economy Minister Matjaž Han, Agriculture Minister Irena Šinko, Labour Minister Luka Mesec and Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič. The task force held its first meeting last week.
The government has said it would tackle the rising cost of energy and food in two steps. First, it will try to agree with stakeholders to share the burden. If this fails, price regulation will follow. Moreover, energy vouchers for the poor and fiscal interventions could be among the measures applied by the government.
