Constitutional Amendments
A 13-member expert group has the task of drafting proposed constitutional amendments by the end of May, on the basis of the guidelines for amendments to the constitution drawn up at the request of the government by the government legislation office in cooperation with the ministries of justice and the interior. The guidelines for these constitutional amendments are confined to what is termed the "European article", the right of foreigners who are citizens of the EU to purchase real estate, to legislative referendums, to the formation of the government, its composition and the possibility of National Assembly decisions on early elections, reorganisation and organisation of local self-government, election of judges in the National Assembly and extradition of Slovene citizens to other countries.
These guidelines for constitutional amendments represent merely the basic orientation as to how, or rather which questions need to be studied in the drafting of such amendments, and based on appropriate assessments how to determine the extent to which the constitutional amendments are in fact needed.
What in fact does this "European article" envisage? In view of its planned accession to the EU, Slovenia must arrange its constitutional order so as to allow the handing over (transfer) of the execution of part of its sovereign rights to the community it will be joining. Provision must therefore be made for the possibility of Slovenia concluding treaties with which, for the purposes of integration into some broad international community (or the EU) it may transfer the execution of part of its sovereign rights to that community. This involves a step which will create a new constitutional possibility, with the decision as to when this possibility will be used being taken specifically when the treaty on accession to the EU is concluded and has taken effect.
In connection with accession to the EU, the need also arises for a harmonisation of the constitutional provision on the right of foreigners to own real estate with the system that is valid in the member states of the Union, for the current arrangement as provided by Article 68 of the constitution does not yet meet this requirement. This article would need to be supplemented with a new paragraph making appropriate provision for this situation. Nevertheless, such a supplement would not just provide a direct relaxation of the system of EU citizens acquiring ownership rights in line with the regime governing trade in real estate within the Union, but would merely be preparing the constitutional ground for this. Following supplementation of this article, the state would still retain the same possibilities for restricting and prohibiting trade in (purchasing) real estate on the part of foreigners as would apply to its own citizens. A supplementation of this article would also provide that the condition of reciprocity does not apply in cases where and inasmuch as this question is governed differently owing to an agreement concluded by Slovenia in accordance with the "European article". For foreigners from non-EU member states, the arrangements as currently provided by Article 68 of the constitution would continue to apply.
A number of questions also arise in connection with the issue of legislative referendums. The current provision, for example, does not envisage any limitation on the use of legislative referendums, and they may therefore be carried out for all issues governed by law; yet in line with the guidelines it would be necessary to determine certain cases where the use of such referendums is restricted. Some deliberation would be needed in connection with the abolition of advance referendums, as well as on the reduction of the number of subjects eligible to have a referendum called. One shortcoming of the current provision is that the constitution does not specify any quorum of participants in a referendum vote as a condition for the referendum decision to be valid.
In connection with the formation of the government, the guidelines set out the drawbacks of the current constitutional arrangement for forming governments; it is worth noting that the appointment of ministers in the National Assembly is unusual for a parliamentary system, that the dual procedure of voting on the government in the National Assembly creates the possibility of unusual political situations (for example the elected prime minister cannot form a government) and that changes of ministers (dismissal, and appointment of new ones) in the National Assembly clouds the responsibility of the prime minister for the functioning of the whole government. A solution would need to be sought primarily in the area of simplifying the procedure for appointing the government, where the role of the National Assembly in electing the prime minister would remain unchanged, and a change would be effected simply in the appointment of ministers, whereby they would be confirmed by the president of the republic on the proposal of the prime minister.
With regard to regionalisation and local self-government, the guidelines point out that if Slovenia is truly set on regionalisation, it must set up regions as wider local communities. It can only do this by removing from the constitution the obstacles presented by Article 143. This can be done by either deleting the article or - and this is the preferred option for those drafting the guidelines - by replacing the existing article with new wording which would encompass a clear definition of principle regarding the systemic status of the regions, along with a clear definition of their working areas and the basic tasks which they would assume in the intervening space between the municipalities and the national government. The guidelines also point out that if in Slovenia's constitutional order, through appropriate amendments to the constitution, the National Assembly were relieved of its tasks and competence in connection with the election and dismissal of judges, this would accord entirely with the constitutionally provided division of power, with the National Assembly being justifiably relieved of part of its duties, while the constitutionally provided independence of the functioning of the judicial branch would be left unimpeded. Such an amendment to the constitution would still leave the National Assembly with its functions relating to establishing the leading bodies of the executive branch of power, as well to the appointment of constitutional court judges and certain other holders of high state office.
In connection with extradition, the issue of extraditing Slovene citizens from Slovenia should be dealt with in the light of changes to the constitution. The constitutional prohibition on the extradition of one's own citizens is a standard provision of international constitutional law, but it is at issue in the light of the fact that together with other countries, Slovenia is entering international integrations and forms of cooperation which would require a change to the current absolute ban on the handing over of Slovene citizens to other countries.