Report on National Assembly's Work in the Parliamentary Term 1996
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REPORT ON NATIONAL ASSEMBLY’S WORK IN THE PARLIAMENTARY TERM 1996 - 2000 FOREWORD by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Podobnik, M.D. This report on the work of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia in the 1996 - 2000 parliamentary term provides a detailed description of the work performed in a period representing an important landmark in the political maturation of Slovenia. In this period, the highest legislative body continued to establish the rule of law through several fundamental legal acts that indirectly or directly affect the existence of the state and the life of its citizens. In its internal constitution and functioning, Slovenia began to implement the standards applied in developed and democratic European countries, certainly a special challenge, heavy burden and particularly great responsibility for the National Assembly in this as well as future terms. It is a difficult and complex process reaching far beyond the time frame of a single parliamentary term. Final success may only be achieved by means of effective, responsible and co-ordinated functioning of all branches of power since it is necessary to take decisions the consequences of which will considerably affect the lives of current and future generations of Slovene citizens. The Slovene Parliament - the main national institution in the country where all political views legitimated by the citizens’ electoral support are represented - endeavoured to adopt all key decisions as unanimously as possible and, above all, with careful consideration and responsibility. The coalition and the opposition deputies of this term succeeded in reaching an agreement on all matters of strategic national priority. I personally believe that such successful parliamentary co-operation represents a big step forward in the full development of Slovenia’s political culture. In order to be stable, a democratic society must be based on the active co-operation of both coalition and opposition parliamentarians. In the internal and international strengthening of a country, such co-operation is a process that in terms of programme and development exceeds the framework of the political agreements of one term or one government coalition. The enforcement of the parliamentary system has thus been given special attention in this term, both in our internal communication and in our co- operation with other state institutions in accordance with the relations between the various branches of power defined in the Slovene Constitution. I am certain that in this term we have achieved high standards of parliamentary communication and that such a process is irrevocable. Deputies of future terms thus have a strong foundation to continue and upgrade the work that has been done. They should find this report helpful since it provides clear directions for all decisions and improvements necessary and realisable. In the Republic of Slovenia, power is vested in the people. Citizens exercise this power through elections and the transparency of the work of state institutions. In this term, the National Assembly has tried to act as publicly as possible. The National Assembly has been open to the civil society, to co-operation with experts of various professions and fields, and has welcomed both individual visitors and groups. It has become the state institution most open to representatives of the media, particularly because they are considered to be representatives of the public - who have right to inspect our work. 2 In our work, we have also taken into account technological development; the sessions of the National Assembly are directly broadcast via the Internet or available to the general public through the archives on the National Assembly’s web sites - the Slovene Parliament is one of the few institutions in the world offering such a possibility. Special attention has also been given to the establishment of efficient specialised and technical services of the National Assembly. We are fully aware that the maximum quality of deputies’ work through the various terms may only be achieved with the specialised and technical support of all the persons employed in state administration. Many experiences and ideas born in this term will be fully realised only in the terms to come when even more attention will have to be given to this area. An autonomous and efficient functioning of state institutions is only possible with a good and properly qualified state administration. This report provides insight into the work carried out in this term also to those who wish to examine Slovenia’s parliamentary experience in the first decade of its existence. It is a precious document for the archives and a testament to the deputies’ work, describing it in a way that was probably less noticed, less clear or less understandable in the everyday monitoring of our work. We are therefore delighted with it and filled with pride. Respectfully yours, Janez Podobnik, M.D. President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia Ljubljana, 27 September 2000 3 CONTENTS FOREWORD by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Podobnik, M.D. INTRODUCTION 1 GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1 Installation in office of the National Assembly 1.1.1 Election results 1.1.2 Constituent session 1.2 Structure of deputies according to gender, education, age and other characteristics 1.3 Election of the President and Vice-Presidents and Appointment of the Secretary General 1.4 Setting up and composition of deputy groups 1.5 List of deputies at the end of the term 2 SESSIONS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 2.1 Sessions of the National Assembly 2.2 Draft acts and adopted acts 2.3 Co-operation between the National Assembly and the National Council 2.4 Parliamentary questions and initiatives 2.5 Interpellations 2.6 Immunity of deputies 2.7 Proceedings before the Constitutional Court 3 WORKING BODIES AND OTHER STRUCTURES OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 3.1 Working bodies 3.1.1 Setting up - election of working bodies 3.1.2 Composition of working bodies 3.1.3 Information on the activity of the working bodies (commissions, committees) 3.2 Commissions of inquiry 3.3 Permanent delegations of the National Assembly in international parliamentary institutions and international organisations 3.4 Joint Parliamentary Committee 3.5 Informal structures of the National Assembly 4 THE BUREAU 5 ELECTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS 5.1 Acts of the National Assembly regarding elections and appointments 5.2 Election of the President of the Government and appointment of ministers 5.2.1 Government of the Republic of Slovenia - President Dr Janez Drnovšek (27.2.1996 - 7.6.2000) 5.2.2 Government of the Republic of Slovenia - President Dr Andrej Bajuk (since 7.6.2000) 4 6 INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION 6.1 Multilateral co-operation 6.2 Bilateral co-operation 6.3 Protocolar visits 6.4 Study visits 7 PETITIONS 8 BUDGET OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AFTERWORD by the Secretary General of the National Assembly of the Republic of 6ORYHQLDÃ-RåLFDÃ9HOLãþHN SOURCES 5 INTRODUCTION The Report on National Assembly’s Work in the Parliamentary Term 1996 - 2000 consists of eight chapters including statistical data on and description of the work of the National Assembly until 15 September 2000. The report begins with the foreword by the President of the National Assembly Dr Janez Podobnik. General information on the installation in office of the National Assembly and its composition at the beginning and at the end of the term (elected deputies; structure of deputies according to gender, education and age; setting up and composition of deputy groups; list of deputies of the National Assembly at the end of the term) is followed by the chapter on the sessions of the National Assembly: number of regular and extraordinary sessions, public sessions, closed sessions, duration, number of speeches, number of items on the agenda, adjournments, obstructions. The reader will then learn about the co-operation between the National Assembly and the National Council, parliamentary questions and initiatives, interpellations, immunity and the procedures before the Constitutional Court. Chapter 3 describes the working bodies and other structures of the National Assembly and includes statistical data on the work of the working bodies and the commissions of inquiry. Chapter 4 contains information on the work of the Bureau. Chapter 5 describes the elections and appointments to the National Assembly: it contains data on the proposers of elections, appointments, dismissals and consent, followed by data on the election of the President of the Government and the appointment of ministers, and by the subchapter on the holders of the main public and other functions. International co-operation described in Chapter 6 focuses on multilateral and bilateral co- operation. Chapter 7 contains data on petitions, including the number of files and claims submitted. Chapter 8 presents the National Assembly’s budget. The report ends with the afterword by the Secretary General of the National Assembly Mrs -RåLFDÃ9HOLãþHN The following abbreviations are used throughout the text, particularly in tables: NA RS – National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia "beginning of term" – data refer to 28 November 1996 "end of term" – data refer to 15 September 2000 DG – deputy group (eg. DG LDS - Liberal Democracy of Slovenia deputy group) DeSUS - Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia LDS – Liberal Democracy of Slovenia SDS – Social Democratic Party of Slovenia SKD – Slovene Christian Democrats SLS – Slovene People’s Party SNS – Slovene National Party ZLSD – United List of Social Democrats SLS+SKD – SLS+SKD Slovene People’s Party NA.D. – non-attached deputy NC – Deputies of the Italian and Hungarian national communities 6 I.N.C. - Deputy of the Italian national community H.N.C. - Deputy of the Hungarian national community JPC – Joint Parliamentary Committee Done at Ljubljana, November 2000 by the Research Department 7 1 GENERAL INFORMATION1 The National Assembly is composed of deputies of the citizens of Slovenia and comprises 90 deputies.