Voters shoot down Izbrisani law

The question of the Izbrisani ("The Erased") took another turn on 4 April as voters shot down the implementation of the so-called "technicalities bill" in referendum. The Izbrisani are citizens of other republics of the former Yugoslavia who were living in Slovenia at the time of independence who had permanent residency but who did not have, or otherwise qualify for, citizenship in the newly independent country. The government revoked their permanent-resident status and erased them wholesale from the registries.

Nearly 95 percent of votes cast were against the technicalities bill, but turnout stood at just about 31 percent. Since independence in 1991, eight referenda have been held on legislative issues. The highest turnout rates were for the referenda on EU and Nato membership – each attracting more than 60 percent of the electorate. Turnout for the others was roughly between 30 and 40 percent. In any case, there is no minimum turnout required, and the referendum results are legally binding on parliament.

The technicalities bill was the government’s first step towards regulating the situation of the Izbrisani. It would have complimented the systemic bill, but the Constitutional Court ruled in late February that the wording of the question in the proposed referendum on the latter was unconstitutional, and parliament is currently working to find an acceptable formula. Thus, none of the legislation passed late last year to correct the Izbrisani situation is able to enter into force.

Slovene Democratic Party (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) leaders, who were the referendum’s primary supporters, expressed satisfaction at the results. SDS leader Janez Janša told the press that Interior Minister Rado Bohinc should step down, because the results indicate that voters do not believe that the government chose the correct manner to resolve the Izbrisani situation, and that the vote can be interpreted as a vote of no-confidence in the government and in the Ministry of the Interior.

Speaking to Radio Slovenija, SLS leader Janez Podobnik reiterated the idea that the referendum results indicate a vote of no-confidence, but limited it to "certain leading representatives of the Slovene state," rather than applying it to the government as a whole. He added that the turnout rate shows a further vote of no-confidence in several political parties, i.e., liberal ones that urged voters to boycott the poll.

Podobnik further told STA that the referendum results prove that his party was right in joining the SDS and NSi in supporting the interpellation motion against Bohinc which could have resulted in Bohinc’s removal, primarily over the Interior Ministry’s issuing residency permits to Izbrisani victims on the basis of the Constitutional Court ruling without waiting for a proper legislative basis. However, the SLS decision to support the interpellation motion led to its expulsion from the governing coalition.

Interior Minister Rado Bohinc told Radio Slovenija that the low turnout shows instead that voters are not interested in the issue of the Izbrisani, and that certain parties, i.e., conservative ones, are blowing the issue out of proportion. Bohinc further told Radio Slovenija that he has no intention of stepping down, and indeed that no minister has ever resigned over the results of a referendum.

ZLSD representative Milan Potrč told Radio Slovenija that he congratulates voters for not allowing themselves to be manipulated, a sentiment repeated by DeSUS chairman Anton Rous.

In April 2003, the Constitutional Court ruled that all of the Izbrisani must have their residency rights returned. The government was given six months in which to bring the law into alignment with the constitution, based on the Court’s decision. This was done in late 2003, but the changes were met with harsh opposition mainly by conservatives, which has led to the current situation.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were 18,305 citizens of other Yugoslav republics living in Slovenia in 1992 who had permanent resident status. Of the Ministry’s figure, 12,937 applied for citizenship under procedures introduced later, and 10,713 got citizenship. But according to unofficial estimates, 3000 to 4000 people are still without formal legal status in the country.

Five new ministers…but a sixth on the way?

After eleven hours of heated – but ultimately successful – hearings before parliament, and with just about six months left in the current government’s mandate, parliament approved replacements for five ministers on 20 April with a vote of 51 to 25. The new ministers constitute nearly two-thirds of the sixteen-person government, leading many – especially the opposition – to wonder if early elections would not have been a better option. The prime minister, however, believes that the new ministers are the best way forward for Slovenia, and stressed that all five are prepared to continue in their posts should this fall’s elections enable them to do so.

The five ministers replace two who are leaving the government for personal reasons, and three others who resigned earlier this month when their party, the Slovene People’s Party (SLS), was expelled from the governing coalition.

The other coalition parties – Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS), the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) and the pensioner’s party DeSUS – saw the move on the part of the SLS as a violation of the coalition agreement. The SLS, however, insists that it truly believed Bohinc acted improperly and that they did not violate the agreement.

There is increasing speculation, however, that this is not the end of the cadre changes within the government, as Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel may well be on his way out as well. Rupel sent a letter to Prime Minster Rop questioning the decision to put Zdenka Cerar in the post of Justice Minister. Until now, Cerar has been the state prosecutor-general and led a drive to have Rupel investigated on corruption charges last year. The private letter was well-reported in the press, though not published outright.

Prime Minister Rop told the press he did not intend to discuss the matter with Rupel until after the five new ministers had been confirmed in their posts. However, various journalists are now speculating Rupel may end up being dismissed. As of the weekend, however, Rop had made no firm decision.

Mosque referendum

The Ljubljana city council plans to hold a referendum on 23 May on the spatial-planning act, which will allow the construction of a mosque near Cesta dveh cesarjev on the outskirts of the capital.

On 16 April, the Constitutional Court rejected a petition from the city council for a ruling on the constitutionality of the spatial-planning act and the law on local-self administration. Several days later on 20 April, the city council decided to schedule the referendum for next month.

There are just under 50,000 Muslims in Slovenia. At 2.4 percent of the population, Islam is the second-largest religion in the country, following Roman Catholicism and just ahead of Eastern Orthodoxy. Many Muslims came in the 1990s during the war in Bosnia and unrest in Kosovo, while others have been in Slovenia for a much longer time.

Same-sex union debate to hit parliament

On 22 April, the government approved a bill on same-sex partnership unions following the bill’s approval by the government’s Council for Social Security on 19 April. The bill has been sent to parliament for final review. Vlado Dimovski, minister of labor, family and social issues, used the exit of the SLS from the coalition to bring the bill forward; the SLS was the primary opponent of same-sex unions within the government.

According to the bill, same-sex unions would be legalized and would bear all of the rights and responsibilities of a marriage between a man and a woman, with one exception: members of a same-sex union would not be automatically eligible to adopt children. The Law on Legal Unions and Family Conditions, which regulates marriage, would be unaffected by the bill.

Once approved by the council, the bill will undergo review within the government and then be submitted to parliament for approval. Though it is expected to gain the government’s approval, its fate in parliament is much less certain.

The drive for same-sex unions began shortly after Slovenia’s independence, in 1993. The government founded the first working group on the issue in 1998, and only now have gay-rights activists and politicians been able to arrive at a mutually-acceptable text.

Tatjana Greif of the gay-rights group ŠKUC-LL promised that the "revolution isn’t over yet," at a 20 April press conference announcing events in honor of the 20^th anniversary of the gay-rights movement in Slovenia.

SMS schism

One of parliaments smallest parties – and one of Slovenia’s newest – the Slovene Youth Party (SMS) is set to split into two fractions. On 8 May, a breakaway group plans to hold a meeting in Novo Mesto where it will announce the formation of a new party, which organizers believe will attract more than half of the SMS local committees.

Members of the breakaway faction say the split is necessary, since decisions within the SMS are made by too few people in undemocratic fashion. The biggest issue was the fact that the SMS leadership refused to hold a party congress before this June’s elections to the European Parliament, even though two-thirds of the party’s local committees supported the idea.

The new party does not yet have a name, and Delo reports that the members will decide on it in Novo Mesto next month. Among the options are Aktivna Slovenija (Active Slovenia), Lista mlade Slovenije (List of Youth of Slovenia) and Mlada Demokracije Slovenije (Young Democracy of Slovenia).

"Neighbors without Frontiers" Television taking off

The main coordinator of the project is the Maribor office of RTVS. Its director Janez Ujčič told STA that some 1.8 million euros will be required for the project, and that organizers are petitioning the European Union Interreg Fund for support.

The project includes several television shows aimed at the public in all four participating countries. There will be an entertainment program called Neighbors, a tourism program called Welcome and a culture and music program called Marjanca.

Two more television stations – Germany’s TV Hamburg and Serbia’s Pink – might join the project, and the network will likely widen in the coming years to radio stations and even certain print media.

In February, Slovene television journalists joined a similar project, Balkan News Network (BNN), which launched a 24 hour service. In addition to Slovenia, other countries participating in BNN include Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo) and Turkey.

And in other news…

• The office of the ombudsman for human rights presented its annual report on 15 April to parliament. The report covers the year 2003, and draws particular attention to several major public expressions of intolerance, particularly as connected to the Izbrisani, and the plans to build a mosque and Muslim cultural center in Ljubljana. The ombudsman has proposed the creation of a governmental institution to educate the public about human rights, and for the elaboration of a national anti-discrimination strategy. The ombudsman also pointed out that ten Constitutional Court rulings have still not been enacted into law, and other issues.

• The National Assembly appointed the chairman, vice-chair and two members of the newly formed Commission for the Prevention of Corruption on 20 April. The commission will replace the Office for the Prevention of Corruption, in accordance with recently-passed legislation. The office was headed by Boštjan Penko, who withdrew his name from consideration for the chairmanship of the new commission earlier this year. The chair of the new commission will be Drago Kos, who currently works for the office and serves as president of the Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO).

• On 11 April, the first issue of a new monthly magazine for Slovenia’s Serbian community called Srbski mostovi (Serbian Bridges) premiered. The magazine is receiving funding from the Ministry of Culture. There are about 25 Serbian cultural organizations active in Slovenia which serve a Serbian population of between forty and sixty thousand.