Slovenian Parliament

Ljubljana – The National Assembly passed in a 50:36 vote on Tuesday amendments to the act on road transport that create the legal basis for transportation platforms such as Uber or Lyft, changes that the government argues will facilitate the digitalisation of the transport sector.

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 – A key multi-day plenary at which parliament was to vote on the opposition-sponsored motion to impeach Prime Minister Janez Janša and the coalition’s proposal to dismiss Speaker Igor Zorčič was aborted on Monday after MPs failed to endorse the agenda in the first such instance to date. Each side then filed for an emergency session instead.

Ljubljana – Igor Zorčič remains speaker of the National Assembly. The coalition failed with a motion to dismiss him Tuesday after he quit the Modern Centre Party (SMC) deputy group, as 45 voted in favour of the dismissal, one vote short of the required majority, and two votes were invalid.

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 – The National Assembly voted 48:38 in favour of amendments to the act governing the STA that require the STA English Service to report on the work of NGO as a legal requirement.

The English Service already reports on NGOs, but the law on the STA does not stipulate this as an explicit requirement, even as it includes such a provision for the Slovenian-language service.

Ljubljana – Two months after the expiration of public and commercial news service contracts between the STA and the government, which had previously been renewed annually, the STA restricted access to its news items for the government administration on Monday. Parliament Speaker Igor Zorčič believes the time has come for the matter to be resolved in court.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly determined on Wednesday in a 51:13 vote that changes to the foreigners act tightening up conditions for residence for foreign nationals in Slovenia as well as amendments to the international protection act aiming to prevent asylum law abuses are fit for further debate. Both bills were met with mixed reactions.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly decided in a 50:16 vote on Wednesday that the latest corona crisis stimulus package, passed late last night, cannot be put to a referendum. The decision means that the law was published in the Official Gazette Wednesday evening and will take effect on Thursday.

Ljubljana – Two coalition parties and the Pensioners’ Party (DeSUS) have tabled a bill that would redraw some electoral districts in line with a 2018 Constitutional Court decision, after a rival opposition-sponsored bill that would have abolished districts altogether failed to garner the required two-thirds majority in the National Assembly last week.