The Left

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša’s presentation of Slovenia’s EU presidency priorities at the National Assembly on Monday elicited criticism from the centre-left opposition parties. Some described it as short on detail, others expressed doubt about whether the government can deliver.

But he also says that going solo into the forthcoming elections, after previously abandoning the alliance led by the Social Democrats, does not mean the small parties are withdrawing parliamentary support for the current government.

Dimitrovski dismisses talk of a new parliamentary majority led by VMRO DPMNE as an illusion.

Ljubljana – The opposition-controlled Commission for Oversight of Public Finances debated on Wednesday the impact of the proposed tax reform on public finances, with one of the adopted conclusions assessing the reform as an inappropriate fiscal response to the current crisis.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly rejected in a 46:43 vote on Tuesday a proposal from the centre-left opposition for a consultative referendum on the government-sponsored bill on the national Demographic Fund.

The bill was adopted by the government last autumn and its passed a second reading in the National Assembly in March.

Ljubljana – The ruling Democrats (SDS) have defended a draft resolution they plan to adopt at the upcoming congress and which warns about the possibility of civil war and leftist extremism, as the opposition stepped up criticism of a document they claim constitutes scaremongering.

Ljubljana – Centre-left opposition parties have asked for an emergency session of parliament to discuss their motion to impeach PM Janez Janša. This is after the parliament met for a regular session today to discuss the motion and a number of bills, but the plenary was suspended after the MPs failed to confirm the agenda in a 42:42 vote.

Ziobro argued that the measures to allow the EU to generate "own resources" for the plan (ie. issue debt) would lead to a further - unacceptable, in his view - erosion of national sovereignty. Also, as the architect of the PiS's controversial justice reforms, he did not like the rule-of-law conditionality that the European Commission has attached to the disbursement of funds from the RRF.

Ljubljana – The Vox Populi poll for April shows support for the government continues to fall while there are also more respondents who consider its performance successful. The ruling Democrats (SDS) continued to poll highest among political parties whereas over a fifth of the respondents had problems with access to healthcare during the Covid epidemic.

Ljubljana – The Constitutional Court has cleared an act securing EUR 780 million in investments in the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) until 2026 as well as parliament’s decision not to allow a referendum on the act sought by the centre-left opposition.

Ljubljana – Parliament passed on Tuesday changes to the water act with 44 votes in favour and 38 against. One major provision has been scrapped from the bill in the wake of criticism by NGOs, but environmentalists warn that the legislation is still problematic with efforts already launched to place the law on a popular ballot.