On 18 November, Parliament approved the ‘Šutar Law,’ expanding the use of surveillance and allowing police to enter property or vehicles without a court order in designated ‘security zones.’ The law has prompted criticism from rights groups over privacy concerns and fears of discrimination, arguing the law risks conflating ‘fighting crime with policing the Roma.’ Although the law does not explicitly target Roma areas, its criteria and context effectively link these zones to Roma neighbourhoods. The law follows Aleš Šutar’s fatal assault in Novo Mesto on 25 October, allegedly by a Roma suspect, which sparked mass protests. The incident led to the resignation of two ministers, amid criticism that justice and security institutions were ineffective in ensuring public safety. Their resignations aimed to ensure accountability after years of tensions and recent violent incidents, including a June attack on the mayor of Ribnica. The law enters into force in 2026, pending presidential approval.  

Sources: Euronews, European Roma Rights Centre, Roma Foundation for Europe, Slovenian Government (1), Slovenian Government (2), STA, The Guardian 

On 1 January, a public sector wage reform law entered into force, addressing wage disparities by capping the ratio between the lowest and highest salary grades and phasing in salary increases, while boosting holiday allowances. The law was passed by Parliament on 24 October 2024 and affects around 190,000 public employees, including judges. The law also introduces automatic adjustment of wages for inflation, after the Constitutional Court ruled on 5 June 2024 that judges’ pay should be raised to adjust for inflation. On 15 November 2024, most Slovenian public sector unions signed collective agreements to classify jobs into salary grades for individual professions and launch the new wage system. The reform follows judges’ protests against low salaries in January 2024. 

Sources:  The Slovenian Times (1), The Slovenian Times (2), European Public Service Union, Government of the Republic of Slovenia, International IDEA 

Slovenian judges protested for two weeks between 10 and 24 January, processing only urgent cases and cancelling hearings according to their own discretion. The Association of Judges has cited the government’s failure to implement a June 2023 Constitutional Court ruling, which found that judges’ salaries were too low and in violation of the principle of judicial independence and the separation of powers. The ruling considered that judges’ salaries are not regulated in a comparable way to salaries in other branches of government, and underlined the need to protect judges from pressure that could influence decision-making. The Constitutional Court’s decision gave the legislature six months to ensure compliance with the Constitution, which lapsed on 3 January 2024. The government has bundled the matter of judges’ salaries with a wider revision of public sector salaries, which has been delayed by the impacts of the response to severe flooding in 2023 on the state budget.

Sources: Euractiv, N1 (1), N1 (2), N1 (3), Slovenian Judges Association (1), Slovenian Judges Association (2), STA, 24ur

The Culture Ministry introduced a draft media bill, which would introduce new state support, regulate the use of AI, and limit media concentration. The draft bill would regulate the use of generative AI in the media by ensuring news outlets label all content created using AI, and inform audiences about their use of generative AI. The bill would further clamp down on deepfakes, which can be used in exceptional circumstances to improve media literacy for educational purposes. Penalties for violations could reach EUR 20,000. In addition, the bill foresees the creation of a National Media Council, an independent body of experts whose role would be to protect the public interest in the media and debate media legislation, to be proposed by the government and appointed by the National Assembly. The bill will be open to public consultation until 31 January 2024.

Sources: Euractiv, Slovenia Times, STA, European News Room, Ministry of Culture