Slovenia - January 2024

Slovenian judges protested for two weeks between 10 and 24 January, processing only urgent cases and cancelling hearings according to their own discretion. The Association of Judges has cited the government’s failure to implement a June 2023 Constitutional Court ruling, which found that judges’ salaries were too low and in violation of the principle of judicial independence and the separation of powers. The ruling considered that judges’ salaries are not regulated in a comparable way to salaries in other branches of government, and underlined the need to protect judges from pressure that could influence decision-making. The Constitutional Court’s decision gave the legislature six months to ensure compliance with the Constitution, which lapsed on 3 January 2024. The government has bundled the matter of judges’ salaries with a wider revision of public sector salaries, which has been delayed by the impacts of the response to severe flooding in 2023 on the state budget.

Sources: Euractiv, N1 (1), N1 (2), N1 (3), Slovenian Judges Association (1), Slovenian Judges Association (2), STA, 24ur