On the 19 of January, following an invitation of the Slovenian Judges’ Association (member association of the IAJ), the President of the IAJ, Mr. Duro Sessa, attended a meeting with the Association Board in Ljubljana, where the Slovenian colleagues explained in detail the situation and their demands.
In Slovenia, in fact, judges decided to stop their court activities for 10 days as a warning to the Government and to the public that the situation with their salaries is unbearable.
Despite the clear decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia that the salaries of judges are too low and contradict the responsibility of judges, the principles of independence of judges and separation of powers, as well as the Constitution, the government is not implementing the decision of the Constitutional Court. The deadline for implementation was on 3rd January 2024 and the government has not yet offered a solution. The Prime Minister has publicly stated that, despite the constitutional decision, the issue of judges’ salaries will be resolved in two, three, four months as part of the changes to the public sector salary system. The Minister of Finance has just signed an agreement with the public sector union in which the union guarantees not to strike until September 2024, on the condition that no one paid from the state budget (power holders – “functionaries” included) will receive a salary increase until then.
After the meeting, a press conference was held: Mr. Sessa and the President of Slovenian Association, Ms. Vesna Bregant Rakocevic, answered to the questions of the members of the press. He explained and advocated principles in IAJ Charter and other international documents, not only in regard to the proper remuneration for judges, but also for their freedom of speech and action when they have to stand up for their independence.
Mr. Sessa gave long interview to largest daily newspaper “DELO”.
