European Public Prosecutor’s Office

Ljubljana – The National Assembly is meeting for its first regular session this year Monday to tackle some contentious bills, including amendments to the gaming act, a bill to tackle the issue of Swiss franc loans and changes to the communicable diseases act. The MPs will also decide whether to withdraw the much criticised amendments to the penal code.

Strasbourg – The European Parliament will take a vote on a resolution on the rule of law and fundamental rights in Slovenia at the plenary session in Strasbourg next Thursday, follows from the agenda endorsed by the parliament’s leadership today. The draft resolution is not available yet as the deadline for its submission has been moved from today to Friday.

Ljubljana – European Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kövesi will visit Slovenia on Monday to discuss the cooperation of the country’s prosecutors with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) after Slovenia’s two European delegated prosecutors have recently been appointed following a delay.

Ljubljana – The centre-left opposition insisted Marjan Dikaučič was not fit to serve as justice minister as debate on their ouster motion in parliament focussed on legal proceedings running against him. The coalition rallied in his support nonetheless, while the Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS), which will decide the vote, called on him to provide concrete answers.

Ljubljana – The State Prosecution Council has welcomed the government’s decision to refer the council’s pick of the pair of candidates for delegated prosecutors to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). Both the council and experts say such an act cannot be temporary, but the government says it invoked a clause in a Council Regulation of 2017.

Koper – Commenting on the proposal to reduce funding of the judiciary in the next two years, Primorske Novice says that this brings nothing good. Not only that money is being cut for institutions that are supposed to make order, it is trust in the state that is on a particular decline, the newspaper adds.

Ljubljana – A delegation of the European Parliament’s committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE) visiting Slovenia on a fact-finding mission has expressed concern mainly at the tone of public debate, while also calling for the issues of STA funding and European delegated prosecutor appointments to be addressed urgently.

Ljubljana – Four centre-left opposition parties have tabled motions of no confidence in Justice Minister Marjan Dikaučič and Education Minister Simona Kustec. The main charge against Dikaučič is the failure to appoint delegated European prosecutors. Kustec has been accused of failings regarding getting schools ready for the new wave of the pandemic.

Ljubljana – The Ljubljana Administrative Court has rejected a request from prosecutors Tanja Frank Eler and Matej Oštir to stay the government’s May decision not to get formally acquainted with their appointment as Slovenia’s European delegated prosecutors (EDPs), saying that the request has not been sufficiently reasoned.

Ljubljana – Prosecutors Tanja Frank Eler and Matej Oštir have filed another suit against the government over its decision not to appoint them Slovenia’s European delegated prosecutors as proposed by the Justice Ministry after they were vetted by the Prosecution Council.