Dokument #2107360

Freedom House (Autor)

Nations in Transit 2024 - Slovenia

CONSOLIDATED DEMOCRACY
80
/ 100
Democracy Percentage 79.76 / 100
Democracy Score 5.79 / 7
LAST YEAR'S DEMOCRACY PERCENTAGE & STATUS
79 / 100 Consolidated Democracy
The ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 1 the lowest. The Democracy Score is an average of ratings for the categories tracked in a given year. The Democracy Percentage, introduced in 2020, is a translation of the Democracy Score to the 0-100 scale, where 0 equals least democratic and 100 equals most democratic. See the methodology.
 

Authors

  • Meta Novak

Score changes in 2024

  • Independent Media rating improved from 5.25 to 5.50 to reflect the less hostile environment for journalists under the new government, improvements in the independence of national radio and television, as well as increased financial sustainability for the Slovenian press agency, which illustrates greater independence of public media.
  • As a result, Slovenia’s Democracy Score improved from 5.75 to 5.79.

Executive Summary

Political developments in Slovenia in 2023 were dictated by the actions of a government led by the newly established Freedom Movement (GS) party and Prime Minister Robert Golob, in power since 2022. Observers rightfully characterized the situation as “people without political experience finding themselves in power.”1 The political inexperience of the prime minister, coupled with his only known modus operandi being from the private sector and his micromanaging approach, led to some unfortunate decisions.

Golob’s cabinet went through several changes in 2023. It was only at the beginning of the year that the government was finally able to organize all 20 ministries—a development that the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) opposed. In the referendum on an amendment to the Government Act proposed by the SDS in November 2022, voters backed increasing the number of ministerial positions.2 Three new ministries were established: the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate, and Energy, and the Ministry of Solidarity-Based Future.3

Despite the GS holding a record parliamentary majority, the government went through quite a few changes throughout the year. During 2023, four ministers resigned or were removed from their positions. Unlike with the previous government, the ministers largely left the government when the prime minister lost trust in their work, rather than as a result of demands from the opposition or the public.

Systemic corruption was also seen in the new government. The minister of public administration, Sanja Ajanović Hovnik, resigned due to public outcry over a pricey business trip to New York in July, after floods the following month resulted in austerity measures.4 In September, the media revealed that Ajanović Hovnik had signed a document changing the rules for a public tender, allowing an institute owned by her longtime colleague to obtain 300,000 euros ($317,000).5 At the beginning of October, the public television show Tarča revealed a document appearing to show that Ajanović Hovnik had misled the public when she claimed that she did not know about her friend’s institute applying for the tender and that they had not spoken for a long time.6 This led to Ajanović Hovnik’s resignation.7

Devastating floods at the beginning of August, described by Golob as the biggest disaster in Slovenia’s recent history, also represented a challenge for the prime minister in managing his government. The prime minister assured the public that the disaster response will be carried out at the expense of the state, and it will require significant resources.8 The floods changed the priority of the government, leading to the postponing of most reforms and the cutting of the state budget. At the time of the disaster itself, many citizens, civil society organizations, and companies volunteered help for victims.9 In the first weeks of the natural disaster, the opposition also made the decision to support the government’s response to the floods.10 A proposed amendment to the Act on Elimination of Natural Disasters that will speed up the allocation of financial resources to affected municipalities was unanimously adopted by parliamentary deputies, with 79 votes in favor.11

Renovation and rebuilding after the floods proved to be a challenge and required close coordination within the cabinet. As a result of difficulties with this work, at the end of 2023, the prime minister proposed decreasing the number of ministries to make the government more nimble, but this idea was rejected by other parties in his coalition.12

The unusual relationship between the government and individual coalition members of Parliament (MPs) in the coalition was revealed in November, when the National Assembly—the lower chamber of Parliament—voted on an opposition amendment to the Law on Budget Execution that would fully adjust social transfers for inflation. Since this was a proposal by the opposition, it had not been expected to be brought to a vote at all. However, in a surprise to the GS, a majority of the deputies present ended up voting for the amendment. The Member of Parliament of the Left and the former Freedom Movement deputy confirmed that they voted for the amendment. Other legislators said they had not cast votes and had withdrawn their identification cards from the voting system. A few complained that they voted against the amendment but the system did not record their votes.13 Parliament suspended its session, and the deputies then voted again after the voting device was checked. This time, MPs from opposition parties boycotted the vote, while coalition deputies unanimously supported the proposal due to public pressure, resulting in its.14 Later analysis revealed that MPs had disrupted the functioning of the voting system by withdrawing their identification cards while voting.15

When Golob and his team took over the government, the new prime minister had announced several reforms, and in 2023 the government continued to prepare them for implementation.16 Reform of the health-care system was declared an absolute priority due to numerous problems, alongside reforming pensions,17 long-term care for the elderly,18 payroll systems19 , the justice system, the tax system,20 and education.21 Long-awaited public payroll system reforms were a reaction to the dissatisfaction of public employees in several professions with their salaries and with wage disparities. Relatedly, several public-sector trade unions went on strike during 2023.

A series of demands for higher wages among different professions in the public sector started with Golob recklessly announcing raises for judges in January.22 In less than a month, the government backed down from this promise due to questions raised by the National Assembly’s Legislative and Legal Service. After that, the judges repeatedly called on the prime minister to fulfill his promises regarding their salaries.23 Negotiations between the government and the public sector took place throughout the year and continued into 2024. However, they got more contentious after the August floods, when the government started looking for savings because of increased expenses due to the damage caused by floods. In November, representatives of the public sector unions called on the government to immediately resume negotiations for the reform of the salary system. Otherwise, they predict an increase in strikes. The government denied responsibility for the breakdown of negotiations.24

In November, the SDS formed a shadow government made up of the opposition party’s expert council, which consists of the presidents of twelve committees, mostly prominent party members. The expert council is a statutory working body of the SDS, which examines professional issues, acts, draft laws, amendments, and other documents adopted by individual ministries, the government and Parliament. The expert council formulates positions, gives initiatives, proposals and opinions to the SDS’s executive committee and parliamentary group.25 However, the SDS shows signs of splitting into factions, with former foreign minister and presidential candidate Anže Logar attempting to build his political support and establishing his own association.26

More cooperation has been noticed between civil society and the government than during the previous government. In June, the National Assembly adopted a proposal by civil society organizations for amendments to the Law on Elementary School and the Act on School Nutrition, which will provide free lunches for all students beginning in 2027.27 In September, civil society organizations the 8th of March Institute, the Eko Anhovo and the Soče Valley association, and the Today Civil Initiative took more than 6,000 certified signatures to the National Assembly to submit a proposal for an amendment to the Act on Environmental Protection. The law was adopted in the first reading, with the legislative process continuing into 2024.28

In March, the Initiative Voice of the People presented its first report on the new government’s fulfillment of 122 commitments made by coalition parties during the 2022 election campaign. According to the report, the government had fulfilled eight commitments and partially fulfilled 12 commitments, while 54 are in the process of implementation and six were started on but have stalled. The government has not acted on the remaining commitments or has actively violated them.29

The situation surrounding public broadcaster Radio-Television Slovenia (RTV Slovenia) finally improved with the new RTV Slovenia Act, which changed the formation of the RTV Slovenia Council, whose members would be selected by different stakeholders including civil society organizations and employees, and not by the National Assembly. This reform increased RTV Slovenia’s institutional autonomy and editorial independence. The management of the RTV has been replaced, but the new leadership is encountering financial problems since its predecessors left them in a dire financial predicament. RTV Slovenia called on the government, as its founder, to provide funds for the broadcaster to continue its public service work, and the government has said it is investigating how to obtain additional funding.30

The minister for foreign and European affairs presented changes in Slovenia’s foreign policy strategy aimed at returning the country’s stance to founders of the European Union (EU).31 The international community’s backing of Slovenia is evidenced by the successful Slovenian bid for nonpermanent member status in the United Nations Security Council.32

Popular support for the Golob government continuously dropped throughout the year, with higher support only immediately after the floods in August.33

At-A-Glance

In Slovenia, national governance is democratic but the emergence of new parties and leadership by politically inexperienced officials leads, on occasion, to rash decisions and communication. Elections are free and fair while proposals to modify parts of the electoral system remain under discussion. Slovenian civil society is vivid and active, taking advantage of different structures for active involvement in policymaking. The independence of national radio and television improved with a new public media act, although print media remained in crisis in 2023. Ideas about reducing the length of mayoral terms of office have appeared due to several mayors governing for long periods of time. Support for changing the constitution so that judges would be appointed by the president rather than the National Assembly has been building, and a comprehensive judicial reform strategy is under development. Corruption remains a systemic problem with few improvements.

 
National Democratic Governance 1.00-7.00 pts
Considers the democratic character of the governmental system; and the independence, effectiveness, and accountability of the legislative and executive branches. 5.50 / 7.00
  • From the beginning of 2023, the opposition SDS party was critical of the Golob administration’s way of governing. It claimed that the ruling coalition was behaving as if Slovenia was in a state of emergency, frequently calling emergency parliamentary sessions and passing laws by emergency procedure.34
  • An analysis by the nongovernmental organization (NGO) CNVOS in May showed that in the first year of operation, the Golob government repeatedly violated a resolution that instructs the government to conduct public and professional consultations when drafting regulations, failing to do so in 66 percent of cases. Even that represented a slight improvement from the previous government of former prime minister Janez Janša of the SDS, which violated the resolution in 70 percent of cases.35 Members of the public, civil society organizations, and experts also criticized the government for formulating legislation in an exclusionary manner, without proper consultation. In February, for example, the Act on Scientific Research and Innovation Activity was amended without the research community’s input.36
  • At the beginning of March, SDS deputies filed an interpellation—a parliamentary procedure similar to a vote of no confidence—against the government in the National Assembly, protesting its unilateral decision-making among other issues.37 After the interpellation, GS leadership said the party would change its communication strategy to make fewer promises and instead emphasize informing the broader public about the results of the government’s work.38
  • In May, a parliamentary commission met to investigate suspicions of political interference in the work of the police. The investigation was triggered by the resignation of former minister of the interior Tatjana Bobnar in December 2022.39 In her testimony, Bobnar said she had resigned after Golob had demanded that she take “inadmissible and unacceptable” actions related to interference with police appointments.40 Golob confirmed he and Bobnar had agreed in May 2022, before his government took power and she was appointed, to rid the police of figures connected to the Janša government.41
  • After Slovenia’s election as a nonpermanent UN Security Council member in June, the Slovenian government in September decided to appoint a special representative, former foreign minister Samuel Žbogar, to lead its team in the Security Council. The appointment was made without consulting the National Assembly, which is normally expected.42
  • In October, Golob sent a proposal to the National Assembly to dismiss the minister of agriculture, Irena Šinko, and told Parliament that he had received a letter of resignation from the minister of natural resources and space, Uroš Brežan, after both ministers’ performance had fallen short of the prime minister’s expectations.43 With these and other changes in the ranks of the ministers, Golob in October announced that he would restructure his administration, namely by reducing the number of ministries. His decision surprised the public, especially because the prime minister had previously defended increasing the size of the cabinet in the referendum of 2022. His coalition partners did not agree with his latest position on the size of the government,44 and the prime minister soon abandoned the idea.45
  • In October, GS deputies Mojca Šetinc Pašek and Roberta Pavšič were expelled from the party, because, according to the prime minister, they were damaging the party and stirring unrest within it. There was also speculation that the speaker of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, would be expelled, but this did not ultimately take place. However, Klakočar Zupančič resigned from her position as vice president of the party due, in her words, to being overworked.46
  • Although the GS supported Nataša Pirc Musar’s successful candidacy in the second round of the presidential elections in 2022, relations between the government and the president’s office worsened in 2023. Golob and Pirc Musar have had repeated disagreements, mainly linked to Bobnar’s 2022 resignation as minister of the interior and her accusations that the prime minister interfered in the operation of the police. After resigning from the ministerial position, Bobnar assumed the role of Pirc Musar’s advisor on human security in Pirc Musar’s presidential cabinet. Golob and Pirc Musar also clashed over the government’s appointment of Žbogar as Slovenia’s UN Security Council envoy.47
  • In October, Pirc Musar expelled a member of the presidential Youth Consultative Committee, Sara Štiglic, after Štiglic and a group of other young women tore down flags placed by initiative Walk for Life in Ljubljana’s Congress Square what the antiabortion civil society group said were symbolizing children killed by abortions. The president said Štiglic’s actions went against freedom of expression, but Pirc Musar’s rushed decision to expel her was met with disapproval, especially by women’s rights groups and activists.48
  • In 2023, support for the Freedom Movement and the government started to decline.49 This trend briefly reversed itself after the August floods and support increased, with more than half of respondents supporting the government’s work in one poll conducted in late August, but this was after more than six months of wavering support.50 Towards the end of 2023, the public again became increasingly dissatisfied with the government of Prime Minister Golob and his party.51
  • Factions have emerged within the SDS, Slovenia’s largest democratic opposition party. After the success of Anže Logar as an independent candidate in the presidential elections in 2022, he resigned as chair of the SDS’s party council and established the Cooperation Platform association in May. The stated purpose of the platform is to hold debates on issues such as stimulating the economy, modern technologies and artificial intelligence, health care, youth concerns, mental health, the justice system, the media, and the environment, and it attracted politicians who had been associated with both left- and right-wing parties in the past.52 The creation of the Cooperation Platform sparked suspicion that Logar might establish his own political party, further fracturing the SDS.53
Electoral Process 1.00-7.00 pts
Examines national executive and legislative elections, the electoral framework, the functioning of multiparty systems, and popular participation in the political process. 6.50 / 7.00
  • Following the 2022 election year that saw parliamentary, presidential and local elections, as well as referendums, there were no elections in 2023. However, electoral system reforms entered the agenda, as civil society organizations called on the prime minister in January to change the electoral system as he had promised and make it more democratic. They suggested forming an expert commission—without representatives from political parties—as soon as possible, which would review current proposals for the new electoral system and prepare referendum questions for citizens.54
  • The National Assembly unanimously passed amendments submitted by the National Council to the Act on the National Council, which governed the upper chamber of Parliament. The amendments address rulings by the Constitutional Court on the law’s unconstitutionality and are supposed to settle election disputes in a comprehensive manner. The amendments extend the timeframe for electing representatives to the National Council, give the State Election Commission the power to announce reelections, and makes the Supreme Court responsible for resolving election disputes.55
  • In January, the National Assembly’s Committee for Internal Affairs, Public Administration, and Local Self-Government declined to support a proposed amendment to the Act on Local Elections submitted by the SDS party. According to the SDS proposal, objections to the work of electoral bodies and the outcome of elections would have no longer been decided by municipal councils, but instead by municipal electoral commissions. Electoral disputes would have been decided by the administrative court. The SDS also proposed that citizens of third countries would no longer have the right to vote for municipal council members and mayors.56
  • In April, the nonparliamentary Pirate Party began collecting signatures to submit a proposal to amend the Act on Local Elections to limit mayors to a maximum of two consecutive terms.57 The Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia (SOS), which represents local governments, said the proposal violates fundamental democratic principles because municipalities could be left without mayoral candidates.58 In June, the Pirate Party submitted the bill, together with the 5,000 necessary signatures, to the National Assembly.59 The government opposed the law, and the National Council rejected the proposal in September.60
  • The government’s consultations on changes to the national electoral system with professional experts, politicians, civil society and the public held in October showed that stakeholders were divided. Golob’s government therefore proposed asking the Slovenian citizens about changing the electoral system in a referendum. Coalition partners advocate for a proportional system, which, by abolishing electoral districts and introducing preferential voting, will ensure the greatest possible influence of citizens to choose their representatives in the National Assembly.61
Civil Society 1.00-7.00 pts
Assesses the organizational capacity and financial sustainability of the civic sector; the legal and political environment in which it operates; the functioning of trade unions; interest group participation in the policy process; and the threat posed by antidemocratic extremist groups. 5.75 / 7.00
  • The poor health care situation in Slovenia has become the most pressing issue for the public. In January, out of a total population of 2.1 million, about 200,000 people were waiting for their first medical examination and 130,000 people did not have a doctor.62 On January 10, Voice of the People organized a major patient strike in nine Slovenian cities. Three coalition parties supported the organization’s demands for accessible healthcare.63 The union of doctors and dentists of Slovenia, Fides, also warned of the possibility of a strike that month,64 but later cancelled the threatened labor action.65 On World Health Day in April, Voice of the People held a march for public health, during which it also presented legislative proposals.66 In September, Voice of the People held a new protest in front of the Ministry of Health in which it sought to publicize the number of Slovenians without proper health care.67
  • In June, Voice of the People, together with the 8th of March Institute and some other organizations, publicly called on Minister of Health Danijela Bešič Loredan to resign for allegedly acting in the interests of private doctors and not patients.68 This was followed by public criticism that despite the adoption of legislation introducing emergency measures to stabilize the health care system in 2022, queues in health care were increasing, indicating the law’s failure.69 At the end of June, SDS filed an interpellation against the minister of health, and Loredan soon after submitted his resignation.70 In November, Voice of the People was able to present its proposal for a law on health care to the new minister of health.71
  • Negotiations continued in 2023 between the government and many public-sector trade unions, mainly regarding wage disparities. These among others included unions representing education professionals,72 police,73 customs officials,74 nurses,75 judicial officials, local self-government,76 professional firefighters,77 the army,78 and bus drivers.79 Most of these labor groups either threatened or carried out strikes and other protests throughout the year. After a pause in labor negotiations during the August floods, a government proposal to eliminate wage disparities was met with different reactions. Negotiations on wage reform in the public sector saw progress towards the end of the year, but no final agreement has yet been reached. Negotiations continued into the following year, and doctors even went on strike in the beginning of 2024.80
  • Throughout 2023, the farmers’ union and other agriculture NGOs organized protests against the government’s agricultural policies, sometimes drawing thousands of participants.81 Before one of the farmers’ protests in April planned for the center of Ljubljana, the police visited farms and asked farmers whether they planned to bring tractors to the protest. The Legal Network for the Protection of Democracy and the 8th of March Institute expressed concerns about police intimidation,82 but police insisted that this is a normal practice.83 In June, the government agreed to some concessions and promised to work with representatives of farmers and workers to draw up new legislation.84
  • Following numerous protests by retirees throughout the year, civil society organization the Voice of the Pensioners of Slovenia, which was led by former Tržič mayor and SDS MP Pavel Rupar, and its association the 1st of October Institute—submitted a bill to the National Assembly in June calling for a large increase in pensions.85 In September they announced that they would also submit a bill to the National Assembly that provided extra pension supplements. Nothing directly came of either effort. However, the government announced in October that pensioners would receive a 1.8 percent supplement in addition to their pensions in November and December, and on December 20, they would also receive a winter supplement amounting to 40 percent of the annual supplement paid this year.86
  • On March 3, Youth for Climate Justice organized a climate protest in Ljubljana and Maribor, during which the group called on authorities to take action on the environmental crisis. After demonstrators broke into Ljubljana’s Bežigrad stadium, the police recorded the identity of some protestors, including minors. Youth for Climate Justice expressed opposition to the police’s actions, saying they placed severe pressure on protesters.87
  • In March, the SDS’s youth party filed a report against the 8th of March Institute, accusing it of violating referendum campaign rules during the 2021 Waters Act Referendum by allegedly received 30,000 euros ($36,000) from the Guerrilla Foundation, a German grantmaker that funded left-wing activism throughout Europe.88 In May, the Court of Auditors found no violations in the financing of the referendum campaign.89
  • In March, a stranger verbally assaulted Nika Kovač, the director of the 8th of March Institute in Ljubljana.90 Kovač had previously been physically assaulted in the capital by another attacker in October 2022. In response to the latest verbal attack, Golob offered Kovač leadership of his Strategic Council for the Prevention of Hate Speech, which she accepted.91
  • On June 17, an LGBT+ Pride Parade took place in Ljubljana. Parade participants reported numerous homophobic and transphobic acts, including threats on social media, insults, thefts and burnings of rainbow flags, and even physical attacks. Slovenia’s human rights ombudsman and the National Assembly speaker condemned the incidents attacking the Pride Parade.92 Nevertheless, parade organizers called on other politicians to speak out against the attacks, and condemned the failure of the police to protect marchers. The police countered that they had not observed direct rights violations and could not guarantee total security at a large event such as the parade, and added that the organizers rather than police were ultimately responsible for the event’s safety.93
  • In June, the National Assembly adopted proposed amendments to the Law on Elementary School and the Law on School Nutrition submitted in 2022 by the 8th of March Institute to make school lunches free for all students.94 Free lunches for all students are expected to be introduced in 2027.
Independent Media 1.00-7.00 pts
Examines the current state of press freedom, including libel laws, harassment of journalists, and editorial independence; the operation of a financially viable and independent private press; and the functioning of the public media. 5.50 / 7.00
  • The European Commission’s fourth annual report on the rule of law in EU member states, published in July, notes that there are still challenges in the field of media freedom in Slovenia, although it also observed positive developments in the media climate. Problems remain with concentration of ownership, insufficient funding, safety of journalists, and state advertising.95
  • The Slovene Association of Journalists was occupied with journalists’ ongoing strike at RTV Slovenia, which started in May 2022 and continued through 2023.96 In April, journalists intensified strike activities by suspending work,97 with the union emphasizing that overwork is now the industry’s most pressing problem.98
  • With the entry into force in 2023 of the amendment to the Act on Radio Television Slovenia that was approved by referendum in November 2022, procedures to appoint or elect the 17 members of the new RTV Slovenia Council began. Under the new act, the National Assembly will not be involved in the council members’ selection. Instead, they will be chosen by organizations and institutions representing various sectors of Slovenian society. RTV Slovenia employees will choose six of the council’s members. 99
  • In January, Peter Gregorčič, who had been ousted as president of RTV Slovenia’s previous program council by the 2022 amendment to the Act on Radio Television Slovenia, and other former RTV Slovenia officials filed a petition asking the Constitutional Court to review the amendment. They called for the court to temporarily suspend the amendment’s implementation, hold a public hearing on the issue, and issue a speedy ruling. The petitioners alleged that the amendment was adopted following an emergency procedure without sufficient justification and is therefore in violation of Article 89 of the Constitution, which requires laws to be passed in a multiphase process.100
  • In February, the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the implementation of parts of the amendment that governed aspects of how RTV Slovenia Council members would be selected.101 Several of the court’s judges were excluded from the case over impartiality concerns.102 Throughout this period, the Higher Labor and Social Court in Ljubljana ruled that several appointments to RTV’s leadership in 2021 had been illegal, despite appeals from the past appointees.103
  • On May 26, the Constitutional Court lifted its temporary suspension of the implementation of parts of the amendment. The new RTV Slovenia Council was formed the following week.104 The council elected Zvezdan Martić, a longtime journalist at RTV Slovenia, as its president.105
  • A crisis in print media reached new heights in 2023. Over the past few years, circulations have been decreasing, and there is less income in general. In 2023, many owners began announcing the dismissal of journalists and other employees, which media experts called out as irresponsible ownership.106 For example, in January, the journalists’ union at the daily newspaper Večer and the Slovene Association of Journalists expressed strong opposition to layoffs announced the previous month at Večer, fearing that the staff reductions would worsen working conditions for the remaining employees at the already understrength editorial staff. Večer’s management ignored these criticisms and proceeded by firing journalist Ana Lah in January over a phone call. Around 40 organizations signed a letter of support for Lah and an online petition was also launched, but nothing came of those efforts.107
  • At the end of 2023, Večer became a tenant of new premises owned by the mayor of the municipality of Maribor, showing the challenges faced by Slovenian media outlets seeking to remain independent. Večer staff members denounced the relocation as damaging to the newspaper’s journalistic independence.108
  • In contrast to the previous SDS government failure to finance the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), the new government approved a new contract for the STA in January that boosted funding for the public press agency by 243,600 euros ($265,400), or more than 10 percent, over the previous year’s contract.109 STA performs the public service of providing constant, comprehensive, accurate, and objective information about events in Slovenia and around the world, to benefit the public in Slovenia and beyond its borders.
  • Oštro, an independent media portal, analyzed 183 lawsuits filed against 14 Slovenian media outlets as part of a 2023 project. The report found that as many as 40 percent these lawsuits could be considered strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), which are intended to intimidate journalists and activists by threatening them with ruinous litigation that would exhaust their financial resources.110
Local Democratic Governance 1.00-7.00 pts
Considers the decentralization of power; the responsibilities, election, and capacity of local governmental bodies; and the transparency and accountability of local authorities. 6.50 / 7.00
  • In March, the Council of Europe’s observation mission reported that Slovenia’s 2022 local elections were conducted in a peaceful, transparent and well-organized manner. Flaws listed in the report included structural advantages held by incumbent mayors in local elections and the lack of recognition for some national communities.111
  • The coalition agreement made in January between the Freedom Movement and the Zoran Janković List—a slate of candidates for local office in Ljubljana headed by Mayo Zoran Janković—led to an agreement to prioritize six new investment projects in the capital. The most notable projects include the construction of a bus and railway station, a nursing hospital, and a national university library, as well as the renovation of the Slovenia’s national theater112 However, another construction project, to build a new incinerator, attracted criticism from several stakeholders.113
  • At a meeting of the Ljubljana City Council in February, the council confirmed that it would pay performance awards to the management of the public Ljubljana Health Center. Several political parties and organizations protested the move. Critics said the payment of awards with tax money was inappropriate at a time when many Ljubljana residents remained without a physician.114
  • Janković also attracted criticism for a project under way to build the C0 sewage channel over the Ljubljana aquifer. Several protests were organized in March and April, with participants claiming that construction is taking place without proper permits and that an accident or earthquake could result in the channel contaminating the capital’s drinking water.115 The government ultimately concluded that there is currently no basis for suspending the project.116 In July, a parliamentary commission of inquiry was established, at the request of the SDS, to look into possible abuses or illegalities in the construction of the channel.117 In November, the Administrative Court decided that the Ministry of the Environment, Climate, and Energy would have to repeat its decision on an environmental impact assessment for the channel.118
  • President Pirc Musar spoke with representatives of political parties at the beginning of her term about possible changes to the constitution, including the establishment of regions.119
  • In February, the government proposed an amendment to the Act on State Administration that would allow administrative units to transfer local authority between themselves in order to reduce backlogs and facilitate faster decision-making.120 There are currently 58 administrative units that vary greatly in terms of size and workload, which contributes to inefficiency. The SDS expressed opposition towards the reform, as did the Social Democrats (SD), who belonged to the GC-led coalition.121 The SOS said it is not against the reform, but the local government association said it wanted to be included in developing any legislative changes.122
  • In February, the SOS said that annual income taken in by municipalities, which currently amounts to an average of 700 euros ($754) per inhabitant, needed to rise by 10 to 15 percent due to civil servant salary increases. At the same time, the mayors also drew attention to growing disparities between regions.123 In June, the government announced that there would be no increase in the average per-person fee paid to municipalities for 2023, but that it would identify and compensate individual municipalities that were receiving too little money to account for rising costs. The president of the SOS praised the government’s response.124 In October, representatives of the municipalities and the government reached an agreement that the average income for municipalities would rise to 725 euros per inhabitant.125
  • In September, the government announced three programs to address property damage in the wake of a series of devastating floods in the summer of 2023, providing a total of 234 million euros ($250 million) to local governments. Advance payments were transferred to the municipalities within a few weeks of the decision.126
Judicial Framework and Independence 1.00-7.00 pts
Assesses constitutional and human rights protections, judicial independence, the status of ethnic minority rights, guarantees of equality before the law, treatment of suspects and prisoners, and compliance with judicial decisions. 5.75 / 7.00
  • The Ministry of Justice started preparing a strategy for reforming the judiciary in the beginning of 2023, which includes a series of sweeping laws. An amendment to the Act on Administrative Disputes is aimed at helping to resolve the situation at the Administrative Court, which is facing significant court backlogs. A proposal for changes to the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court is intended to limit the cases that the Constitutional Court handles. Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act are being prepared, and the government is also working on remedying the court system’s lack of experts in civil family proceedings. Amendments to the judicial legislation are being prepared, which are expected to include a proposal to introduce a single judge, who would no longer be separated into local and district courts. For now reorganization of the court network at the level of the entire country is not expected. The ministry also said it would ask the judiciary to rework the Slovenia’s legal examination. The presented measures were welcomed by the Supreme Court and by the Judicial Council, an independent state body made up of judges and other legal professionals that selected candidates for the judiciary.127
  • In January, Prime Minister Golob announced changes to the constitution regarding the appointment of judges, and changes to legislation regarding appointment of Supreme Court judges.128 The amendment to the constitution, according to which judges would be appointed by the president rather than the National Assembly, was supported by Golob’s GC and its SD and Left coalition partners, as well as by the New Slovenia—Christian Democrats (NSi) opposition party and the judicial community.129 Meanwhile, the SDS opposes the planned changes to the constitution.130 An expert group that advised the Constitutional Commission of the National Assembly supported the changes in how judicial appointments were made, but not a three-year trial period for judges that was also included.131 In September, following the expert group’s guidance, the parliamentary Constitutional Committee voted to support the draft constitutional law which does not include the trial period .132 In October, the National Assembly voted to start the amendment procedure for the judicial reforms.133
  • In July, the government and representatives of the judiciary agreed on a new salary scale, but many judges maintained that the agreement is not constitutional and does not solve longstanding issues of low pay.134
  • In November, the leaders of the Movement for Children and Families, Aleš Primc and Metka Zevnik, filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court against a decision of the National Assembly to disallow a referendum on changes to the family code that codified same-sex marriages and adoptions by such couples. In January 2023, the Constitutional Court had decided that calling a referendum on family code amendments was inconsistent with constitutional protections of fundamental human rights and freedoms, which must prevail over decisions by the majority.135
Corruption 1.00-7.00 pts
Looks at public perceptions of corruption, the business interests of top policymakers, laws on financial disclosure and conflict of interest, and the efficacy of anticorruption initiatives. 5.00 / 7.00
  • The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) published a report in March noting that Slovenia has made some improvements, but that there is still no government integrity plan or monitoring of conflicts of interest. Slovenia satisfactorily fulfilled five of GRECO’s fifteen recommendations, while six were partially fulfilled, and four remain unfulfilled. Slovenia has made some progress toward insuring transparency among the highest executive officials, namely through amendments to the Law on Integrity and Prevention of Corruption.136 The GRECO report said Slovenia had not shown sufficient commitment in fulfilling the recommendations made by the anticorruption group in past years, an assessment echoed by Slovenia’s own Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK), which regularly highlighted those shortcomings.137
  • In a March address marking the halfway point of his term in office, KPK president Robert Šumi said that the Slovenian anticorruption commission had been effective in bolstering government integrity and investigating transparency and accountability violations. However, he added, for the commission’s work to be effective, police and prosecutors had to act upon its findings and pursue criminal cases against the perpetrators.138
  • The Whistleblower Protection Act came into force in February, protecting whistleblowers who report violations in their work environments. With this development, the European directive was successful transposed into the Slovenian legal order.139
  • In February the Court of Auditors announced the results of its audit of parties’ campaign financing in the 2022 National Assembly elections, issuing qualified opinions indicating irregularities in the records of the SDS and three other campaigns. The court reported that the SDS was suspected of submitting forged documents to substantiate expenses. (The party argued that local campaign activists had made inadvertent documentation errors.)140 In November, the investigative commission of the National Assembly concluded in an interim report that “the operations and financing of the vast majority of SDS activities takes place through a network of bypass accounts,” that includes SDS officials and members of Hungarian government.141
  • In October, a whistleblower revealed that he had been forced to pay bribes to tax consultant Rok Snežič to facilitate a deal with the state-owned highway operator, the Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia (DARS), on a car-towing contract. Snežič and Valentin Hajdinjak, the chairman of the board of DARS and a former SNi vice president, both rejected the accusations, and Hajdinjak said that he did not know Snežič. However, according to the whistleblower, he had been pressured to meet with Snežič, including by several individuals with connections to SNi,142 which sparkled suspicion of political corruption. At the beginning of November, Hajdinjak resigned from the DARS board, apparently due to media pressure in the wake of controversial tenders including the towing deal and alleged corruption.143

Author: Meta Novak is an associate professor and researcher at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences. Her main areas of research are interest groups and civil society.

Footnotes

ecoi.net-Beschreibung:
Bericht über Demokratisierung (Wahlen, Zivilgesellschaft, Medien, Staatsführung) und Rechtsstaatlichkeit (Korruption) im Jahr 2023
Land:
Slowenien
Quelle:
Freedom House (Autor)
Originallink:
https://freedomhouse.org/country/slovenia/nations-transit/2024
Dokumentart:
Periodischer Bericht
Sprache:
Englisch
Veröffentlicht:
11. April 2024
Verfügbar auf ecoi.net seit:
18. April 2024
Dokument-ID:
2107360

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