Slovenian Regional Self-Government that Lives Only in (Draft) Laws

Slovenia is a young democracy that few decades ago underwent a demanding phase of transition. Despite a successful transition in the area of administrative systems, some goals and constitutional provisions related to local self-government have not come to fruition. One such goal is the establishment of regions. At first, arguments in favour of graduality and a bottom-up approach to building local self-government prevailed. In this context, the 1991 Constitution reduced the regions to associations of municipalities or a form of voluntary intermunicipal cooperation. Over time, it became obvious that bottom-up regionalism would not materialise. In 2006, the constitution was changed, and top-down regionalisation was adopted. However, all attempts to regionalise Slovenia have failed. Nevertheless, there is a general public consensus that regions should be implemented. There are also open questions about the ideal number of regions and the scope of their authority. While the establishment of regions has been low on the government’s political agenda in recent years, the National Council has been the main driver of initiatives on this topic.