The programme statement of the Government of the Slovak Republic raised considerable expectations among employers. The long-overdue reforms and improvements in the business environment were supposed to bring about significant improvements thanks to the comfort of the constitutional majority, which declared common goals in parliament. The real performance of the government's mandate falls short of expectations, and not only due to the war in Ukraine or the pandemic. Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) evaluate the period of government so far and call on the government to accelerate the implementation of key reform processes.
In the programme statement, the government committed itself to implementing long-awaited reform processes such as tax and contribution reform, reform of pension contributions, education reform or the introduction of a systematic legislative process, reduction of bureaucracy and strengthening of law enforcement associated with justice reform. However, the real fulfilment of the government's mandate has only partially fulfilled these ambitions. Such a result is provided by the analysis entitled "Evaluation of the transposition of the priorities of NUE into the economic and social reality of Slovakia". The document examines the compliance of government plans and their fulfillment with the requirements of employers.
In particular, the lack of key reforms – tax, pension or education reform – fall short of expectations. In implementation practice, the least fulfilled areas are related to connecting the education system with the needs of the labour market, strengthening the promotion of applied research and innovation, avoiding waste of public finances and eliminating corruption. Employers were also taken aback by the failure to accept a number of their demands resulting from the new European project of national recovery plans. The reduction of bureaucracy in the area of occupational safety and health (OSH) or the employment of the necessary foreign workers also remained unaddressed. "In general, it is possible to close the period under review as a reserved optimism from a business point of view. The government reflects on the needs of employers, but lags behind in meeting them," says Martin Hošták, secretary of NUE.
In the overall ranking (concluded in the middle of the government mandate), where the mark 1 is the best and the mark 5 is the worst score, the transposition of employers' requirements into the "Government Programme Statement" achieved an average mark of 2.74. Implementation in practice shows a more negative average mark of 2.57. The most positive development in the implementation of government plans related to business occurred with the approval of several significant laws at the end of last year.
The expectations of entrepreneurs were fulfilled mainly within the framework of fulfilling the government's comprehensive approach to the introduction and support of Kurzarbeit or solving the representativeness of trade unions. The area of digitalization of public administration, the environment and waste management is also showing improvements. The business environment also appreciates the efforts to meet the employers' demand to achieve a purposeful and transparent use of European Union (EU) funds, the inclusion of support for infrastructure support and climate and energy objectives as priorities for the absorption of European funds Slovakia, or the partially fulfilled effort to improve law enforcement.
Supported by the Norway Grants 2014 - 2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work".