Prime Minister Janez Janša will meet party leaders on Monday evening to debate the changes to referendum rules tightening conditions for calling referenda.
The meeting comes a week after National Assembly Speaker Gregor Virant sent party leaders a draft constitutional amendment for overhauling Slovenia's referendum system based on an agreement party leaders had reached on 17 May. In line with the proposal, a referendum could be initiated only by 40,000 voters, while a third of the deputies and the National Council, the upper chamber of parliament, would be stripped of this power. Referenda could not be called on emergency measures, fiscal legislation or in cases where this could lead to unconstitutional consequences. Moreover, in order for the outcome of the referendum to be valid, the turnout would have to surpass 40% in line with the proposal. Virant has assessed that the proposal is "close to a solution on which consensus can be reached", adding that every party would have to "take half a step back and accept a compromise". While agreeing in principle with the changes, parties are however divided on the introduction of the turnout restriction. While the coalition parties bar Virant's Citizens' List (DL) are reserved, the opposition Positive Slovenia (PS) and Social Democrats (SD) agree that such a restriction would be necessary.
Source: The SloveniaTimes
