General Principles and Challenges of Public Administration Organization in Slovenia

Slovenia is a democratic parliamentary republic. Citizens exercise power directly (e.g. referendum) and through elections, in line with the principle of the separation of powers. Power is divided into the legislative (Parliament, which consists of the National Assembly and the National Council), executive (Government and President of the Republic of Slovenia), and judicial branches. Although the President of the Republic is considered the nominal head of executive power, the government is the de facto holder of executive power. The principle of separation of powers is not implemented in a ‘pure’ form due to several elements that disrupt the relations between the different branches of government. There is an imbalance in this relationship favouring the legislature, which is reflected in the significant power of the National Assembly in appointing officials and, conversely, the limited power of the President of the Republic. The state administrative bodies in Slovenia include government offices, various government departments, ministries, and different bodies within ministries and administrative units. The government comprises a President and ministers. Government and state administration are closely related, with the government also serving as the largest body within the state administration in the Republic of Slovenia. The government represents the top of the political executive power structure, while the state administration is the professional part of executive power. State administration, governed by fundamental principles, constitutes a collection of state bodies that develop the professional basis for the government’s political decision-making and directly execute decisions issued by both the government and parliament. Administrative units carry out the tasks of state administration, which must be organized and implemented uniformly across any of the state’s 58 administrative units. In addition to administrative decentralisation through these units, the Constitution guarantees territorial decentralisation through local self-government. Slovenian local self-government has only one level – the municipal level – comprising 212 municipalities. In recent years, Slovenian public administration has faced the following main challenges, which will determine its further development: reform of the salary system, public authority dilemmas, regional establishment, number of municipalities, and financing methods.

KEYWORDS Slovenia, public administration, constitutional order, organizational principles, structure of the public administration