Background information

The legal provisions contained in the 'Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences for Citizens and the Economy (ZIUZEOP)' endows self-employed, clerics and farmers, who cannot carry out their activities or that can do it on a much smaller scale, with the right to a basic income for the time of the epidemic. Those ones concerned are eligible if they prove that their income declined during the crisis and if they have no outstanding debt with the Financial Administration.

Content of measure

Monthly basic income is determined at €350 for March and €700 for April and May 2020. Eligible persons have to make a request to the Financial Administration, in which they declare that their income decreased at least of 10% in 2020 with respect to 2019, or a 10% lower average monthly revenue compared to pre-crisis period. Later on, beneficiaries will have to return the support received, if in 2020 their income exceeds 90% of their revenue in 2019. The financial administration is appointed to manage claims for basic income. The measure addresses self-employed, clerics and farmers who have no other insurance deriving from other types of employment. The measure is limited to the period between 13 March and 31 May 2020. After 31 May no new claims are possible.

Use of measure

While the first COVID-19 law (ZIUZEOP, issued on 10 April 2020) was in parliamentary procedure, non-governmental organisations protested against discriminatory “referential period” for self-employed persons. While referential period for companies was one year, it was one month (February) for self-employed. NGOs said that this rule exclude many self-employed persons, since they receive their fees irregularly and many may have had no money inflows in February. Their proposal was not integrated into the first COVID-19 law, issued on 10 April 2020.

Two cultural organisations (the Association of Slovene Film Directors and the Association of Cultural Workers) organised on-line surveys on how many of their self-employed members do not qualify for the income and for the annulled payment of social security contributions. An on-line survey of the first association showed that 84% of film directors and screenwriters are not eligible, while the other association came up with the figure of one-quarter of respondents. It is mainly due to the irregularity of their income and the fact that the government suspended the payment of subsidies to the already done or agreed work (Association of Slovene Film Directors, email, 13 April 2020). Associations stressed that the emergency measure left out the most socio-economically deprived group of self-employed (Šučur, 2020).

The second COVID-19 law (ZIUZEOP-A from 30 April 2020) adopted their proposals: it extended the referential period as well as the group of eligible persons (besides full-time also part-time self-employed).

Financial administration paid off the last instalment of basic income in June 2020. In April 2020, 32.000 self-employed received €11.2 million. In May 2020, €27.5 million was given to 37,500 recipients and another €2.2 million to 4,753 part-time self-employed. In the last payment (June 2020), 45,424 self-employed received €39,8 million. In total, about 51,000 self-employed persons benefited from the measure receiving more than €80 million during the epidemic. For the time of the epidemic (from 13 March to 31 May), a self-employed could get €1,750.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Self-employed	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The two COVID-19 laws (ZIUZEOP and ZIUZEOP-A) were adopted under an accelerated procedure with no involvement of the Economic and Social Council. Its functioning was blocked because the new government, which came to power on 13 March 2020, had not appointed its members in the Economic and Social Council. On 20 April, trade unions protested against the exclusion of social partners in the preparation of the second emergency law (ZIUZEOP-A). They demanded the reactivation of the Economic and Social Council. The first meeting of the Economic and Social Council was held not before 15 May 2020. The Council then became involved in negotiations about the third emergency law ZIUOOPE, issued on 30 May 2020

Views and reactions

Trade unions and employer organizations have submitted proposals to the law. Social partners proposed the extension of the referential period for self-employed. Not in the first COVID-19 law (ZIUZEOP from 10 April), but in the second one (ZIUZEOP-A from 30 April 2020) their proposal was accepted.

Sources

• 30 March 2020: The positions of the representative trade union confederation (www.zsss.si)
• 31 March 2020: The Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia, The right direction, but the law needs some change (www.ozs.si)
• 06 April 2020: Financial Administration, 'Preglednica ukrepov' [Table of measures] (www.gov.si)
• 10 April 2020: Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za zajezitev epidemije COVID-19 in omilitev njenih posledic za državljane in gospodarstvo (ZIUZEOP) [Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences for Citizens and the Economy (www.pisrs.si)
• 11 April 2020: Maja Šučur, ‘Na čigavi strani je ministrstvo’ [On whose side is ministry], Dnevnik, 11 April 202 (www.dnevnik.si)
• 30 April 2020: Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za zajezitev epidemije COVID-19 in omilitev njenih posledic za državljane in gospodarstvo, ZIUZEOP-A [Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences for Citizens and the Economy (www.uradni-list.si)
• 10 June 2020: [The last payment of basic income for self-employed] Še zadnje izplačilo mesečnega temeljnega dohodka za samostojne podjetnik (www.rtvslo.si)
• 15 October 2020: Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences (Zakon o začasnih ukrepih za omilitev in odpravo posledic covid-19, ZZUOOP)
• 30 December 2020: Act Determining Intervention Measures to Assist in Mitigating the Consequences of the Second Wave of COVID-19 Epidemic (Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za pomoč pri omilitvi posledic drugega vala epidemije COVID-19, ZIUPOPDVE (pisrs.si)
• 04 February 2021: Act on Additional Measures for Mitigation of Consequences COVID-19 (Zakon o dodatnih ukrepih za omilitev posledic COVID-19, ZDUOP (www.pisrs.si)
• 24 March 2021: IUS-INFO, Vlada podaljšala nekatere ukrepe [The government has extended some measures (www.iusinfo.si)