Organisation of the Work of the Government
Government Sessions
In line with the Constitution, the legislation and the procedural rules, the Prime Minister leads and directs the work of the Government, is responsible for the unity of the Government and represents the Government. He leads the Government’s sessions, gives instructions to ministers, requests reports from ministers on their work, represents the Government at other branches of the state administration and presents the Government’s standpoints to the media.
The Government works and takes decisions during regular and correspondence sessions.
At regular sessions, the Prime Minister and ministers discuss issues and make decisions directly. At correspondence sessions, Government members discuss issues and make decisions using information technology and communication services within the information system designed to support the Government decision-making procedure (the Government information system).
The Government forms working bodies – committees and commissions – that deal with specific issues within the Government’s responsibility prior to Government debate on these issues. They also deal with specific minor, less important issues.
The Government also (co) founds Government councils to aid communication with civil society organisations and non-governmental professional institutions in individual areas.
The Government can appoint a working group to carry out duties the Government has entrusted to a number of ministries and Government offices. The working group ceases to function when its task has been completed or after the deadline for completion has expired. When the activities of a working group cease, its leader has to immediately present to the Government a report on the executed task.
Issues to be dealt with by the Government can be put forward by the Prime Minister, ministers, the Secretary-General, directors of Government offices and others authorised to make proposals. These proposals have to be harmonised among the ministries and Government offices involved, unless this is not possible because of the urgency of the matter. Those proposing laws, regulations and other matters of a legal nature have to work in consultation with the Government Office for Legislation. The proposals must, among other things, contain an assessment of the financial consequences of adoption, an explanation of how they conform to regulations, an evaluation of whether they will increase or decrease the burden on the legislative system or public administration, and must also meet requirements set out in the National Assembly’s procedural rules.
The Government deals only with materials, which have been sent to the Secretariat-General of the Government via electronic mail. The material has to be signed with the secure electronic signature of the proposer, or it has to be made perfectly clear in some other way, determined by the Secretary-General, that the material has really been sent by the party in question. In exceptional cases, when it is impossible to deliver the material electronically for technical or other justifiable reasons, the Secretary-General can propose to the Prime Minister or the leader of a working body that this material should be included in the agenda for a Government session.
The Secretary-General publishes Government proposals, summonses to Government sessions, minutes and other documents relating to the sessions of the Government and its working bodies via the Government information system.
Members of the Government, the Secretary-General, the Head of the Office of the Prime Minister, heads of Government offices and those they have authorised all have access to the system. In exceptional cases, other leaders of bodies and organisations and authorised representatives of the parliamentary parties in the Government coalition may also have access.
Members of the Government can post their comments relating to the published documents and state their opposition to the discussion of the issues in question within three working days. Within this time, ministries responsible for finance, justice and administration and the Government Office for Legislation can request an extension of this deadline to nine working days in those cases where materials are extensive or if the adoption of the proposals would have significant financial implications, would place additional burdens on the judicial system and the public administration, or if the legal system would have to be changed as a consequence. If members of the Government have commented on the proposals, the procedure for dealing with the issue in question continues following the receipt of a notice from the proposer, either that the proposal has been harmonised, or that the harmonisation process has been unsuccessful and that he or she requests that the proposal be dealt with in spite of it not being harmonised. Proposals, which have not been harmonised within a month of their publication, are removed from governmental procedure.
If no comments have been made on the proposal, the Secretary-General determines the procedure for dealing with it after at least three working days following its publication.
Proposals can be dealt with in the following ways:
- at a regular or correspondence session after having been previously discussed by the relevant working bodies;
- at a regular or correspondence session of the Government without having been discussed by the relevant working bodies;
- at the relevant working body, which can deal fully with the issue.
Proposals rejected by the relevant working body cannot be dealt with at a Government session.
At regular Government sessions discussions are held on: demanding issues that propose the adoption of important resolutions or policy directions of either a political or an economic nature; related proposals for debate by the National Assembly; and issues transferred from the agenda of a Government correspondence session following a request by one or more members of the Government.
All other matters are dealt with at correspondence sessions.
Government proposals can be dealt with at a session of a relevant working body or at a correspondence or regular session of the Government if at least four working days have passed since the publication of the proposal.
Proposals, which have been debated by a working body and on which no comments have been made, are usually put forward to the Government within the same week.
Regular Government Sessions
The Prime Minister calls sessions of the Government, usually on the same day each week. In the Prime Minister’s absence, a minister nominated by the Prime Minister leads sessions. The session begins with the setting of the agenda. Following a proposal, the Government can in exceptional cases extend the agenda with a debate on proposals, which have not been published in advance.
After each item on the agenda has been debated, the Government either passes a resolution with which it accepts the proposals with the original or changed wording, or decides to reject the proposals. The adoption of a resolution can also be delayed, and the proposer asked to supplement the proposal, or a working group founded, which then amends the proposal in an appropriate way.
Any member of the Government can request that it be determined whether the session is quorate. If there is a quorum during the setting of the agenda and no-one requests that the quorum be checked again during the session, the record says that there was a quorum throughout the session.
A complete transcription is made of every session based on an audio, video or other type of recording. These transcriptions have the highest level of secrecy.
Correspondence Sessions
Under instruction from the Prime Minister, the Secretary-General, via the information system, calls the correspondence session and distributes the material, together with a report from the relevant working body or the opinion of a council of the Government in cases when the material has been previously dealt with. The deadline for conveying messages, which may be determined separately for each point on the agenda, cannot be less than four hours or more than three days. If a correspondence session has been called immediately prior to or after the end of a working day the deadline, as a rule, cannot be earlier than 10 a.m. the following day.
At any time during a correspondence session the Prime Minister can halt the debate on a particular issue, or halt the session itself, and decide how the matter is going to be dealt with.
Votes for and against adoption of proposals, standpoints and justifications, withdrawals of no votes, requests for proposals to be dealt with prior to being debated by the Government and requests that proposals be dealt with at a regular session of the Government, are all input into pre-prepared forms in the information system.
A member of the Government can request that prior to a final resolution the relevant working body deals with the matter. If three or more Government members put forward such a request, the item must be withdrawn from the agenda of the correspondence session. The relevant working body then deals it with at its first session.
A member of the Government can also request that an issue is dealt with at a regular session. If three or more Government members request this, the item is withdrawn from the agenda of the correspondence session. It is then debated at the first regular Government session.
If the adoption of certain proposals would place a considerable additional financial burden on the state budget, considerably increase the workload of the judiciary or public administration, or would lead to changes in legislation, the item, in accordance with the previous two paragraphs, can be withdrawn from the agenda of the correspondence session on the basis of a request from the relevant minister responsible either for finance, justice or public administration, or the director of the Office for Legislation.
Proposals are adopted when fewer than half of the Government members vote against its adoption as a whole or against individual parts or, in other words, when more than half the members of the Government vote in favour. If the total number of the members of the Government is an even number and there are an equal number of votes against and in favour, the vote of the Prime Minister is decisive. When more than half the members of the Government vote against adoption of only specific parts of a proposal, the proposal is then adopted without the contentious parts.
Debate and voting on an individual proposal is concluded prematurely when more than half the members of the Government vote in favour of its adoption prior to the deadline.
Government Working Bodies
Working bodies are set up by the Government either on the basis of the Government’s procedural rules or on the basis of a particular law relating to the area in question, which determines that a working body needs to be founded and its composition.
Government working bodies (committees, commissions etc.) consist of a president, a deputy president and an appropriate number of members, nominated by the Government. Resolutions are passed by the majority vote of those present at a session. A report is prepared following discussion of particular issues and approaches containing an evaluation of the topic under discussion, standpoints relating to key issues, possible proposals for change or supplementation of proposed approaches, the standpoint of the working body on the opinions and proposals put forward, as well as proposed resolutions for Government approval.
In order to ensure that the work of the Government and Go¬vernment bodies is technically well founded, the Government sets up appropriate expert or technical councils to advise it in particular areas.
Permanent working bodies of the Slovenian Government
Committee for State Order and Public Affairs
Committee for the Economy
Commission for Personnel and Administrative Affairs
Working groups of the Slovenian Government
Committees and commissions that deal with particular issue within their competency prior to the Government and fully handle certain narrow and less important proposals.
Sessions of Government Working Bodies
The Secretary-General can assign proposals to be fully dealt with by a working body (this normally applies to specific limited and less important issues). If the ministers present as members of that working body vote in favour or at least not against the resolutions implied by the proposals, and if no Government member requests that the proposals be debated at a Government session, the proposals and the resolutions are considered to have been passed by the Government after having been dealt with by the working body. The working body issues a short report on the Government proposals it debated at a session, and in cases when it dealt fully with an issue it also passes a resolution which is in effect the decision of the Government.
Government Programme
The Government determines its priorities for a particular period through a programme and budget documents, and the successful fulfilment of these self-assigned tasks is set out in the report on the work of the Government.
The Government programme includes a list of proposals for laws and other acts the Government intends to put forward to the National Assembly. The report on the work of the Government contains a list of completed tasks, which has been set out in the programme or budget documents. There is also a list and description of completed tasks that have not been previously planned. The Government adopts the report on its work over the previous year and submits it to the National Assembly, together with the national budget proposal.
Openness of the Work of the Government
The work of the Government is public. The openness of the Government’s work is ensured by means of press conferences, internet presentations and reports sent via other information-telecommunications media. The Government responds to all queries, initiatives and suggestions via ministries and Government offices. The relevant office, in cooperation with the relevant ministries and Government offices, answers complaints directed at the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister, the Secretary-General and the Government spokesman inform the public about the work carried out and the resolutions adopted by the Government. Ministries inform the public about Government resolutions that fall within their area of responsibility. Following an authorisation by the Government or the ministers, state secretaries and heads of Government offices can inform the public about resolutions within their area of responsibility. All the above have to represent the standpoints of the Government in all their public appearances. Government resolutions have to be defended in public even by those members who voted against them or abstained from voting. How a Government member voted is classified information of the highest level of secrecy.
Journalists and other representatives of the general public are usually not present at Government sessions. Comments during discussion by Government members and other participants at Government sessions count as an official secret, unless the Government decides otherwise.