Slovenian constitutional reform hits roadblock in parliament

A set of constitutional amendments aimed at giving the Constitutional Court some discretion in deciding which cases to admit in a bid to reduce its caseload has failed to pass the first hurdle in parliament in an indication that no constitutional reform is likely this term, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The amendments, long sought by the court, were put forward by the government almost two years ago. As the National Assembly's Constitutional Commission resumed debate on the amendments the proposal to start procedure to change the Constitution fell short of the required two-thirds majority.

Any changes to the Constitution require a two-thirds majority in parliament, which the government does not have.

The amendments concern articles 160 through 162 of the Constitution which apart from giving the court a discretionary power on which cases to hear also sought to transfer some of the Constitutional Courts's powers to other courts.

The list of those eligible to request a constitutional review, which is currently included in the Constitutional Court Act, was to be enshrined in the Constitution.

On taking office as Constitutional Court president in mid-December 2024, judge Rok Čeferin described reducing backlogs as one of the biggest challenges, which the amendments would help alleviate. According to him, the court receives around 2,000 cases a year.

An expert group of four jurists, appointed by the parliamentary commission in March 2024, advised the commission to approve the start of the parliamentary procedure to amend the Constitution. They underlined that the amendments proposed are much-needed and well-founded.

However only eight MPs voted in favour of moving on with the amendments and seven voted against, including all opposition MPs.

The outcome of the vote does not augur well for other sets of changes to the Constitution put forward this term, including amendments to simplify the procedure to appoint government.

The latter was tabled by two ruling coalition parties and the opposition New Slovenia (NSi), but the NSi adopted an official position late last year that it was too late into term to try amending the Constitution, failing to back start of procedure for its own proposal.