However, the press pointed out that the backlog was lowered by four percent from the end of June 1999 to the end of June 2000. Many of the EC's criticisms of Slovenia's alignment to the EU's political criteria mirror those of the country's Ombudsman for Human Rights. In his fifth annual report, released in May 2000, the Ombudsman cited that most complaints of human rights violations stemmed from administrative problems that could be solved by reform. Judicial backlogs and the slow rate of denationalization, two other serious concerns of the EC, were also discussed in that report. Slovenia essentially meets all economic criteria, but the EC sees more room for improvement in this area than in the political area.
More reform is necessary for the country to advance to the next level.
However, it takes issue with many things. Pension reform, slow rates of privatization and low levels of foreign investment have been problems for several years, and the current report discusses all three at length. Public administration reform As discussed in CER last week , reform of public administration is becoming a big issue even within the country. The Ombudsman's report states that the majority of human rights violations within the country stem from poor administration. Currently, Slovenia has more than 18,000 civil servants.