During the last year of the government of the Republic of Slovenia, led by Robert Golob, the Green Party published an “environmental report” due to the failure to implement certain key environmental measures. The implementation of these measures had been promised to voters by the parties in the governing coalition. By failing to adopt them, they are violating their own commitments, international and European commitments, the will of the citizens, and the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
The co-chairs of VESNA – the Green Party, highlighted the withdrawal of the climate law from the government procedure, the failure to introduce a deposit system for beverage packaging, insufficient action to solve the problem of polluted air, and the failure to comply with the Constitutional Court’s decision on the Regulation on limit values of noise indicators in the environment.
VESNA – zelena stranka
Uroš Macerl, co-president of VESNA : “The “Environmental Bill” issued today represents only a reminder to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for four important areas that the government coalition is unable or unwilling to regulate. We are talking about the inactivity of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and about deliberately lost legislative proposals that have been shelved. In the future, all Slovenians will have to settle the bill for inaction, and today, as VESNA – the green party, we are presenting this bill to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and its president, Dr. Robert Golob. The payment deadline has already passed and as a society we are already paying default interest. Let’s at least settle the principal.”
VESNA – zelena stranka
Urša Zgojznik, co-chair of VESNA : “In areas such as caring for the health of the population, protecting a clean environment and measures to mitigate the consequences of climate change, the activities of governments count as much as their conscious decisions to be inactive. And it is the consequences of these decisions that pose the greatest threat to the future of Slovenia and its people; we are already paying for the damage and consequences today in amounts that greatly exceed the currently generally accepted fact of the need to increase defense spending. In VESNA – the Green Party, we do not agree to making such political compromises, the consequences of which we and the generations after us will pay dearly.”
VESNA – zelena stranka
Four areas and strategic documents that, despite pre-election promises and demands from the European Union, remain unimplemented or unregulated:
- In April 2025, just before the government debate, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia withdrew the long-awaited Climate Act , which was one of the key commitments of the current coalition. The decision remains unexplained, and for the VESNA party it is unacceptable and irresponsible. The withdrawal of the Climate Act represents a serious risk and even a setback in efforts towards climate neutrality and social justice. The adoption of the Act is essential for the introduction of an effective and fair climate policy that will protect both the environment and the most vulnerable groups of the population.
- The introduction of a deposit system has been on Minister Kumro’s desk for several years. Numerous discussions have been held and the introduction has overwhelming, more than plebiscite-level support. Delay is also becoming economically harmful – the industry has repeatedly expressed its willingness to cooperate, but lacks a clear legislative path. According to the latest information, the coalition is still only consulting on the introduction of the system. According to data from the Slovenian Environmental Agency, Slovenia collected only around 58-62% of plastic bottles in 2022 (the EU target by the end of 2025 is to collect at least 77%, and by the end of 2029 at least 90%), which means that the country is not getting closer to the target it must achieve by the end of 2025. In Slovenia, more than 100 million plastic bottles are lost in the environment or end up in mixed waste every year.
- According to the Ministry of Infrastructure’s estimate from 2017, around 180,000 Slovenian residents were, and still are, burdened with excessive noise . The source is mainly related to traffic. In order to regulate this area, the previous government adopted amendments to the Regulation on Limit Values of Noise Indicators in the Environment in 2018. The Ekokrog association appealed these amendments to the Constitutional Court, which succeeded in its appeal in 2022. The current government has had a duty to regulate this area since July 2022, i.e. almost its entire mandate, but it has not. Since the government does not respect the decisions of the Constitutional Court, which stipulates that it must eliminate the established unconstitutionality within one year (July 2023), this also speaks to the (un)democratic standards of this government.
- Slovenia is among the top countries in the European Union with the worst air quality according to PM 2.5 particle measurements. According to the latest measurements, we find ourselves in the company of Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, etc., where measurements traditionally show the worst air in the world. In the Alpine region, we therefore live in the false belief that we breathe fresh and clean air and are unaware that polluted air caused almost 2,000 deaths in 2022, which is 20 times more than the number of victims of traffic accidents. The government has properly addressed the first cause – improper combustion of biomass in small combustion plants – through additional money for the Ecofund and subsidies for replacing old combustion plants, but the current government’s measures also lack ambition and comprehensive regulation of sustainable mobility.
