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Constitutional Transformations at the Edge of a Bail-Out: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Legal and Institutional Structures in Slovenia

The aim of this contribution is to discuss and represent some of the developments in Slovenian law, first and foremost constitutional law, that ensued as a consequence of the economic crisis in Europe and the attempts to tackle it on the European and national level. The introductory section of the text provides a summary of the economic and political context and further illustrates two features of the Slovenian constitutional system and the system of sources of law that are deemed relevant for the subsequent discussion of the transformations connected to the crisis. These features are, first, the central role of the statute (zakon) in the Slovenian system, and second, the prominence of indirect democracy in the Slovenian system of government. The paper continues by discussing four phenomena (case studies) that have been selected as visible examples of how the responses to the economic crisis have led to changes in the Slovenian legal and constitutional system. First, the paper discusses the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) case before the Slovenian Constitutional Court and what can be understood as weakening of the zakon in the Slovenian system. Second, the paper discusses the legislative referendum as the central feature of the Slovenian system of indirect democratic decision-making and also a constitutional issue par excellence. It contrasts two decisions of the Constitutional Court, discussing them as examples of day-to-day and crisis constitutionalism. Third, the paper describes the introduction of the fiscal rule into the Slovenian constitutional system. In the final section of the chapter, an attempt is made to discuss the (new) role of soft law, stemming from the EU, in the Slovenian legal system during the crisis.