SLOVENIA: New draft laws threaten democratic participation and workers’ rights
The right-wing coalition trying to form the government in Slovenia has swiftly proposed and advanced two critical pieces of legislation: the omnibus Intervention Act and amendments to the Employment Relationships Act.
The Intervention Act (Interventni zakon) was pushed forward during the government formation phase through an accelerated legislative process and adopted on 14 May 2026, even before the new government took office. It introduces policies that weaken labour protections, benefit higher-income groups, encourage precarious work, and accelerate privatisation, especially in healthcare. Civil society and trade unions have described it as a “law dismantling the social state” and are collecting signatures for a referendum to overturn it. The law was rushed through parliament without proper consultation, undermining democratic participation and legislative transparency.
In another legislative process that undermines democratic participation, Janez Janša’s SDS party submitted amendments to the Employment Relationships Act under an urgent procedure. It aims to ban the current “check-off” system through which union membership fees are collected directly from employees’ salaries via employers. According to civil society and trade unions, the amendments to the act intend to financially break trade unions, mirroring similar attempts by Victor Orbán’s government in Hungary, which led to a drastic drop in trade union membership.
These initiatives are part of general austerity measures and a crackdown on social protections, weakening workers’ rights, trade unions, civil society, and collective organising. The way in which these reforms are being pushed through, sidelining civil society and public participation, represents a worrying escalation and democratic backsliding in Slovenia.