The Left

Ljubljana – Janez Cigler Kralj remains labour minister as the opposition-sponsored motion of no confidence was defeated by 44 votes to 38 in the small hours of Friday. The National Assembly was thus eight votes short of voting him out of office.

Ljubljana – Simona Kustec is staying on as education, science and sport minister as the National Assembly was eight votes short of voting her out of office. 38 MPs voted for her dismissal, while 41 opposed it after a 16-hour debate, which started on Monday and ended just after midnight.

Ljubljana – Health Minister Janez Poklukar has shot to the top of popularity ratings of politicians in a poll commissioned by the newspaper Delo, to replace President Borut Pahor after nearly nine years on top.

Delo notes that the public appears to have high expectations for Poklukar, the doctor who took over as health minister on 23 February.

Several smaller parliamentary parties from all sides of the political spectrum in North Macedonia, supported by the main ruling Social Democrats, on Friday filed a fresh draft to change the election system and encourage more political diversity.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly passed the National Demographic Fund bill at second reading last night, tweaking the bill slightly via amendments by the coalition, but voting down a number of amendments tabled by the opposition, including the one exempting the STA from the fund.

Ljubljana – Four centre-left opposition parties propose the National Assembly call a consultative referendum on the government-sponsored bill on the National Demographic Fund, arguing its concept is flawed. If their proposal is not adopted, they will initiate a legislative referendum once the bill is passed.

Ljubljana – The four opposition parties from the Constitutional Arch Coalition (KUL) presented on Wednesday their proposal on how Slovenia should spend EU recovery and resilience funds as they filed a request for a plenary session to discuss Slovenia’s national recovery and resilience plan, a document required to draw EUR 5.2 billion in EU recovery funds.

The Slovenian government led by Janez Jansa of the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, SDS survived a no-confidence vote after a marathon session in parliament on Monday evening.

Ljubljana – The parliamentary Home Affairs Committee endorsed on Thursday a bill redrawing electoral districts in line with a 2018 Constitutional Court decision. MPs of the coalition Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi), Modern Centre Party (SMC) and opposition Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS) have backed the proposal.

Ljubljana – The opposition Social Democrats (SD), Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the Left and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) have filed an ouster motion against Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti. Talking to the press on Friday, opposition MPs listed a number of arguments, among them ineffective Covid crisis measures in the culture sector.