NEWS

Parliamentary parties reach general agreement on amendment to referendum rules, and compromise on 35-per-cent quorum

"A general agreement has today been reached," the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, declared after a meeting between the parliamentary party presidents, parliamentary group leaders and deputies of the national minorities concerning the amendments to Article 90 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, which foresee a change to the referendum rules. If the National Assembly confirms this constitutional amendment, it would be, in the Prime Minister's view, "a big step forward and a positive message from politicians to the Slovenian public at the moment".

   

All the parliamentary parties, apart from Nova Slovenija, have shown willingness to compromise on the introduction of a referendum decision quorum of 35 per cent of all citizens eligible to vote. The draft constitutional amendments on which the parties have agreed states that a referendum may be requested by 40,000 voters or by the National Assembly on its own motion by a simple deputy majority. "If this constitutional amendment is adopted, 30 deputies and the National Council will no longer be qualified to propose a referendum," the Prime Minister explained.

   

The parliamentary party presidents, parliamentary group leaders and deputies of the national minorities have also agreed on limitations to referendum decisions. Referendum decisions should therefore not concern urgent measures to be taken in the event of natural disasters, issues concerning national defence, cases which could potentially endanger human rights and fundamental freedoms which are already protected by the Constitution, or legislation which could affect budget implementation or tax legislation.

   

The Prime Minister added after the meeting that the constitutional amendments could be implemented before the parliamentary recess, which would allow enough time for the authorities of the parliamentary parties to discuss the amendments in question. The Prime Minister also expressed his hope that the talks on the constitutional amendments, which are necessary, would not share the same fate as the talks held on the golden fiscal rule, on which the parties had initially agreed, but it then later transpired that some of the parties did not support the introduction of this rule into the Constitution.