“The Slovenian Constitution, according to the current composition of the Constitutional Court, apparently allows everything. It allows the introduction of communism. Last March, the Constitutional Court concluded that any advocacy of communism and communist expropriation is compatible with the Slovenian Constitution,” Dr Jurij Toplak, a constitutional lawyer, recently commented on the current developments at the Constitutional Court. In light of this decision, he said, all that is happening now is merely an implementation.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court will once again be deciding on the amendment to the Radio-Television Slovenia Act. As is well known, the judges did not rule at the last session because there was an obstruction to prevent an unconstitutional decision. Lawyers Jernej Letnar Černič, Miro Cerar and Jurij Toplak spoke about the constitutional crisis and the failure to comply with the Constitutional Court’s decision in a recent episode of the show Odmevi (Echoes) on RTV.
Cerar explained that we still have lots of unfulfilled decisions where there was no consensus among the Members of Parliament in the National Assembly, which he considers bad. Letnar Černič added that Slovenia has been in a constant crisis of the rule of law for at least a decade now. “Our institutions are weak; the rule of law is respected according to loyalty.”
The democratic Constitutional Court has reintroduced communism
What was shocking, however, was the statement by Professor Toplak of the Fordham School of Law in New York, who said that, according to the position of the current Constitutional Court Judges, the Slovenian constitution apparently allows everything. He mentioned the introduction of communism by last year’s decision, and that any advocacy of communism is compatible with the Slovenian Constitution. This scandalously includes expropriations, such as we saw after the Communist revolution in 1945. In his view, what is happening now is merely the implementation of this decision, which has catastrophic consequences for our society.
Andrej Žitnik