The Speaker of the National Assembly should ensure that the Rules of Procedure are correctly implemented, but instead, it is she who often breaks them. She reprimanded MP Zvone Černač of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), who had warned her about the repeated infringement, and he left the chamber in protest.
The repeated incident took place during the debate on a bill that would abolish privileged pensions for those “especially deserving”. The obsolete 1974 Yugoslav law thus remains in force.
The debate was, however, marred by the scandalous behaviour of the Speaker of the National Assembly, legally and formally the first among the Members of the National Assembly, who broke the Rules of Procedure in order to enter the debate.
She still thinks she is in the courtroom
“Whether you trust my legal knowledge or not, I will now quote once again Article 25 of the Referendums and Popular Initiatives Act, which states that: one year after the announcement of the decision in the referendum, the National Assembly may not adopt a law that would be substantively contrary to the decision… don’t get upset, Mr Černač, don’t get upset, you will get your procedural one, too. Please, if you don’t like something, you can go out, I’m warning you, I’m warning you, colleague Černač,” preached former judge Klakočar Zupančič.
The SDS MP tried to warn her that she was violating the Rules of Procedure by not registering for the debate like the other MPs, but she conveniently ignored his warning. “Colleague Černač, please sit quietly in your seat and listen,” she continued.
“Of course I will not listen to you. You are just chairing the National Assembly. I’m sorry, if you want to debate, please register to debate,” a visibly agitated Černač explained to Klakočar Zupančič.
Jelka Godec, leader of the SDS party’s parliamentary group, also commented on Tuesday’s events. “This is what is deemed respectful dialogue by the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda), about which the leader of the Freedom Movement’s parliamentary group, Nataša Avšič Bogovič, spoke on the 24ur programme yesterday evening. Reprimands, preventing the opposition MPs from speaking, and being chased out of the chamber when you don’t want to hear the truth,” she wrote on Instagram.
The coalition is also responsible for breaking the rules of procedure
Klakočar Zupančič has a long history of breaking the Rules of Procedure. The last major incident of this kind occurred in April this year, when she called an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, despite the fact that the conditions for it were not met, and included the highly controversial Healthcare Act as an agenda item. SDS MPs therefore obstructed the session in question.
The SDS party had already proposed the dismissal of Urška Klakočar Zupančič in the past for her outrageous behaviour and repeated breaches of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, but the coalition supports her. And the chronic breaches of the Rules of Procedure continue.
S. K.
