The Slovenian Government was briefed on the MPs’ petition for a constitutional review of the Ordinance calling a consultative referendum on regulating the right to assistance in the voluntary termination of life. The petitioners propose the Constitutional Court suspend the implementation of the contested Ordinance in full until it reaches a final decision on its constitutionality. In this context, they also claim that any unconstitutional consequences could be eliminated by the Constitutional Court fully suspending the Ordinance's implementation until it reaches its final decision, especially because the European Parliament elections campaign in Slovenia, which the entire content of the Ordinance is also linked to, starts on 9 May 2024. At the same time, the Constitutional Court could also decide to implement its decision in a way that would prevent a consultative referendum from taking place on an issue that in and of itself contravenes the Slovenian Constitution.

In its opinion, the Government initially states that it supports referendums as the ultimate form of democratic decision-making by citizens when it comes to especially demanding issues related to finding solutions for the most appropriate regulation of the most complex social and legal relations. A consultative referendum is called on matters under the National Assembly's jurisdiction that are of broader importance for citizens. It can only be preliminary, which means that it is held before the National Assembly reaches a final decision on the issue; however, the National Assembly is not legally required to uphold the referendum's results. In using this type of referendum, the National Assembly is completely free; this means that is can also call a referendum to address specific constitutional-review issues or legislative issues. With especially complex issues, a consultative referendum is an effective tool for testing public opinion and determining the direction of resolving a specific issue.

The Government finds that the proposed referendum issue addresses an important social topic on which Slovenian citizens should express their opinion. This topic has already been dealt with as part of public consultations and discussions; in addition, the public was also familiarised with a bill that 5,000 voters submitted to the legislative procedure in July 2023.

The results of this consultative referendum will show whether the voters want the Government, as the proposer of the law, to begin to comprehensively prepare a legislative proposal related to providing assistance in the voluntary termination of life, or whether they wish this to be done by the MPs. In accordance with the Resolution on Legislative Regulation, the Government's legislative proposals are prepared in coordination with expert participants and the public via public debates, followed by interdepartmental coordination. This procedure ensures that the solutions for regulating a specific issue are well-thought-out and based on expert opinion.

The Government believes that if a consultative referendum, which has no legally binding effects, is held, then no harmful consequences that are difficult to remedy can arise. Hence, suspending the Ordinance's implementation would only make sense if a legislative referendum was called and it if it was proven that an ordinance calling a legislative referendum violated the constitution, and that would result in harmful consequences difficult to remedy.

The Government believes that there is no basis for establishing the inadmissibility of the consultative referendum and, first and foremost, that it is not possible to prove that the Ordinance would create any harmful consequences difficult to remedy, which, under the Constitutional Court Act, the petitioner should have substantiated in its petition to suspend the Ordinance's implementation.

The Slovenian Government forwarded its opinion to the National Assembly.

Source: Ministry of Public Administration