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The Buzz in Slovenia - Interview with Uros Ilic of ODI

The Buzz in Slovenia - Interview with Uros Ilic of ODI Law

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The Slovenian business sector, along with local Slovenian law firms, is still waiting for the newly-elected Parliamentary politicians to form a government, says Uros Ilic, the Managing Partner of ODI Law in Ljubljana. “In the long run the final form of the government could affect business life,” he says. “Not just because of the different approaches towards the tax system, but also because of the possible approaches towards privatization processes.”

“The truth is, I do not expect major changes legislation-wise in either direction for the moment,” Ilic explains. “I just hope they won’t freeze privatization processes, as privatization is perhaps even more connected to the legal part of the business market, because it always brings a lot of work to our tables.” He notes that at the moment it is business opportunities connected to the state that are on hold, with completely private deals less affected. “I haven’t seen any decline in those deals lately,” he says. “Foreign investors are doing business as usual, and they probably don’t even know that we don’t have a government.” Thus, he says, “Slovenian law firms still have some M&A deals, and a couple of NPL attempts, but the large infrastructure and privatization processes are all on hold.”

Ultimately, Ilic says, the country’s health system is likely to be the number one priority of the new government. “Right now we have a public-owned system, and obviously the left wing and central powers would like to keep this, so they are trying to inject couple of hundred million euros into the system and keep it as it is,” he explains. “If a right party would come up, they would probably put more pressure towards building an alternative health system in Slovenia, which would create more business opportunities.”

Ilic calls it “likely” that the new government will be announced in September, but says it’s ultimately difficult to be sure. 

 

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