The government of Robert Golob, together with the coalition in the National Assembly, intends to amend the Criminal Code so that suspected contamination of drinking water is no longer included in the catalogue of criminal offences. The bill was tabled under the urgent procedure and has passed its second reading on Wednesday. Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) is convinced that with this, the government wants to prevent any investigations into Janković’s C0 sewerage channel.
“The government proposed, and the coalition confirmed that two suspected offences be removed from the catalogue of offences: misuse of European funds and contamination of drinking water. /…/ With this, the government wants to prevent all investigative proceedings related to the C0 sewerage channel,” the SDS party wrote.
The Minister of Justice, Andreja Katič, claimed at the recent session of the National Assembly that the adoption of the amendment to the draft law was being rushed because they wanted to implement the Constitutional Court’s decision from last July. Namely, the court ruled that certain provisions of the law on obtaining individuals’ traffic and banking data were unconstitutional because they excessively interfered with privacy, Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reports. The court also ordered that the catalogue of offences for obtaining this data should be narrowed.
Golob’s attack on clean drinking water
The SDS party did not support the bill. Not only that, representatives of the prosecution, the judiciary and others pointed out at a recent meeting of the Committee on Justice that the law is bad because it does not actually implement directives and constitutional decisions.
In addition, the government is removing the misuse of EU funds and the pollution of drinking water from the catalogue of criminal offences.
“The Government proposes to remove from the catalogue of offences the pollution of drinking water under paragraphs 1., 3., 4. and 6. from Article 336 of the Criminal Code. In 2016, the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia was amended with a new Article 70. a, i.e. the article that talks about the right to drinking water. Therefore, the proposal to remove the offence of contamination of drinking water from the catalogue is inconsistent with the Constitution. It is a disproportionate step backwards, encroaching on the area of the C0 sewerage channel and the conduct of the Mayor of the Municipality of Ljubljana. The government, led by Robert Golob, is clearly legitimising the actions of the Mayor of Ljubljana in the C0 sewerage channel project and the illegalities that are taking place in the project,” wrote the SDS party.
“With this solution, the government wants to prevent the possibility of any investigative proceedings related to the construction of the C0 sewerage channel, even as a precautionary measure,” MP Jože Tanko said. Meanwhile, the SDS party President Janez Janša wrote on social media: “The mafia in power is trying to change everything that hinders it in its activities…”
The SDS party’s parliamentary group has therefore proposed an amendment to keep drinking water pollution in the catalogue of criminal offences.
We have asked certain non-governmental organisations that have in the past presented themselves to the Slovenian public as guardians of clean drinking water for their response to the government’s intentions. We publish their answers as soon as we receive them.
Ž. K.
