Following today’s consultative referendum on the establishment of regions, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Janez Janša, commented on the first referendum results, pointing out that these first, almost final, results showed that voters supported the project to establish regions in Slovenia in the manner proposed.

 

(Photo: Srdjan Živulovič/Bobo)

 

The Prime Minister remarked that he was especially pleased that voters in the City Municipality of Ljubljana had supported the proposal put forward by Ljubljana City Council that Ljubljana Municipality should be granted regional status, thus confirming the Council’s decision.

 

(Photo: Srdjan Živulovič/Bobo)

 

The Prime Minister said that the Government would analyse the consultative referendum results in detail, taking into account individual regions and individual municipalities. Initial referendum analyses already indicate that regional identity has been expressed, including in proposed regions not wanted or opposed by certain people. The regions in question are the proposed regions of Koroška, Posavje, Vzhodnoštajerska and Savinjsko-šaleška. There will also be a more detailed analysis of the Osrednjeslovenska region results, where the majority of voters opposed the establishment of regions. The Government will therefore have to draw up a new legal proposal or upgrade one of the existing proposals which already provides for dividing this area into two regions.

 

(Photo: Srdjan Živulovič/Bobo)

 

The Prime Minister reported that the Government would fully respect the results of the consultative referendum, emphasising that it would be relatively simple to draw up a proposal thanks to the solid support expressed in eleven out of the thirteen referendum areas. “I believe we are not being overly optimistic when we say we can draw up a proposal within a few days for submission to parliamentary procedure,” said Mr Janša.

 

Prime minister votes in Grosuplje (Photo: Srdjan Živulovič/Bobo)

 

He added that, for the time being, it was not possible to see all the direct benefits regions would bring, especially in circumstances where such projects were receiving extremely negative publicity, implying that they would only lead to more red tape and additional costs. “The Government considers the establishment of regions a remaining key strategic development tool, which has not been used to date, for achieving faster and more uniform development,” emphasised the Prime Minister.