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In the approximately two and a half decades since 1990, Slovenia has undergone a series of unprecedented historical events and has often been characterised as a success story. In the field of local self-government, major legal changes occurred several years before the ratification of the ECLSG. Nevertheless, these changes were already in line with this document. The paper focuses on the assessment of the development of Slovenian local self-government in the light of ECLSG's provisions on subsidiarity and financial autonomy. As to the first, it may be concluded that, according to internationally established quantitative indicators of decentralisation, Slovenia belongs to the group of centralised states. The share of local (subnational) expenditure as a share of total public expenditure is at around 20%, while the share of local (subnational) expenditure as a share of GDP accounts for approximately 10%. General government employment as a percentage of total employment is at around 17%, of which only 24% are local employees. As to the second, the Slovenian Constitution goes beyond the requirements of the ECLSG on financial resources; however, the legislative implementation of these provisions has always been problematic. In general, the autonomy of municipalities on the expenditure side is much better than on the revenue side. Given the situation of public finances in Slovenia and global development trends, with the increasing complexity of local governance, major shifts in the municipal finance model cannot be expected, especially not in the direction of providing significantly higher financial autonomy or a significantly higher volume of own tax resources. However, it is important to upgrade the system towards the redistribution of existing tax resources between the state and local units by strengthening the elements of the tax autonomy of municipalities. Based on all of the above, it may be concluded that Slovenia is having difficulty with the implementation of both the principle of subsidiarity and principle of financial autonomy. A look behind the curtain therefore relativises the "success story" label. ; U posljednjih se 25 godina u Sloveniji odvio niz događaja bez presedana u njezinoj povijesti. Često ju se navodilo kao uspješan primjer. U području slovenske lokalne samouprave glavne su se zakonske izmjene dogodile nekoliko godina prije ratifikacije Europske povelje o lokalnoj samoupravi (EPLS), no bez obzira na to bile su u skladu s tim dokumentom. Rad se bavi procjenom razvoja slovenske lokalne samouprave u svjetlu odredbi EPLS-a o supsidijarnosti i financijskoj autonomiji. Što se supsidijarnosti tiče, zaključak je da prema međunarodnim brojčanim pokazateljima Slovenija pripada skupini centraliziranih država. Udio lokalnih (subnacionalnih) troškova kao udio ukupnih javnih troškova iznosi oko 20%, dok udio lokalnih (subnacionalnih) troškova kao udio BDP-u iznosi otprilike 10%. Također, postotak zaposlenosti opće države u ukupnoj zaposlenosti kreće se oko 17%, a lokalni zaposlenici čine samo 24% od toga. Što se pak tiče financijske autonomije, Ustav Republike Slovenije stroži je po pitanju financijskih resursa od EPLS-a, no probleme uvijek stvara uvrštenje relevantnih odredbi u zakon. Općenito se može reći da je autonomija općina izraženija kada se o rashodima a ne prihodima. S obzirom na stanje javnih financija u Sloveniji i svjetskih trendova koji upućuju na sve složeniji lokalni governance, ne može se računati na značajnije promjene u modelu općinskog financiranja. Pogotovo se ne može računati na znatno veću financijsku autonomiju ili znatno veći udio vlastitih poreznih resursa. Bez obzira na to, važno je unaprijediti sustav s ciljem redistribucije postojećih poreznih resursa između države i lokalnih jedinica na način da se ojačaju elementi porezne autonomije općina. S obzirom na sve navedeno, možemo zaključiti da primjena načela supsidijarnosti i financijske autonomije u Sloveniji ne ide sasvim glatko, što znači da detaljniji uvid u situaciju čini priču o uspjehu relativnom.

In recent years, public participation has been a frequent object of research, especially in relation to rulemaking procedures. The aim of the paper is to verify a common thesis, that public participation is a means for enhancing democratic legitimacy in rulemaking. In order to do so, the author defines legitimacy and legitimation, presents models of the democratic legitimacy of the executive and compares monistic and pluralistic understanding of democracy. The author then analyzes standpoints of American, English and German legal theory and case law and proposes a possible solution to the main research question.

The rulemaking function of the executive branch of government is a fact of life in modern democratic states. In terms of development, the importance of secondary legislation is growing in both the quantitative and qualitative sense. Because it represents a deviation from the principle of the separation of powers, secondary legislation receives a great deal of attention in both theory and case law. From a comparative standpoint, one can note a wide range of approaches to this question. It could be said that the American approach is pragmatic and flexible, while the Slovenian approach is dogmatic and rigid. In the former, the delegation of rulemaking authority to the executive branch is not problematic provided adequate mechanisms for legal and political oversight are in place; of these mechanisms, special emphasis is placed on the procedure for shaping secondary legislation and the public's participation therein. In the latter, the executive branch is still always looked upon with distrust, which is why this approach persists in delegating as narrow and substantively precise powers as possible to the executive branch. Although the main burden of the democratic legitimization of the executive branch is still borne by the law, the importance of the procedure for shaping secondary legislation, and within its framework the possibilities for public participation, has been increasing.

Normativna dejavnost izvršilne oblasti je v sodobnih demokratičnih državah dejstvo. Razvojno gledano pomen podzakonskih predpisov raste tako v kvantitativnem kot kvalitativnem smislu. Ker podzakonski predpisi pomenijo odstop od načela delitve oblasti, so deležni velike pozornosti tako teorije kot sodne prakse. Primerjalno gledano je pristop k temu vprašanju različen. Za ameriškega lahko rečemo, da je pragmatičen in fleksibilen, za slovenskega pa da je dogmatičen in tog. V prvem delegacija normodajne pristojnosti izvršilni oblasti ni problematična, če so hkrati zagotovljeni ustrezni pravni in politični nadzorni mehanizmi, izmed katerih je posebna pozornost namenjena postopku oblikovanja podzakonskih predpisov in sodelovanju javnosti v njem. V drugem pa se na izvršilno vejo oblasti še vedno gleda z nezaupanjem, zato se vztraja na čim ožjih in vsebinsko natančnih pooblastilih izvršilni oblasti. Glavno breme demokratičnega legitimiranja izvršilne oblasti torej še vedno nosi zakon, čeprav se v zadnjem desetletju veča pomen postopka oblikovanja podzakonskih predpisov in v njegovem okviru možnosti sodelovanja splošne javnosti.

Odločanje v upravnem postopku sicer pomeni oblastno obliko delovanja, vendar to ne pomeni, da mora biti tako delovanje tudi avtoritarno. Upravni postopek mora biti namreč v sodobni demokratični državi oblikovan in izvajan tako, da se ne kršijo temeljne ustavne vrednote, pri čemer je ena od najpomembnejših človekovo dostojanstvo. Po našem mnenju je človekovo dostojanstvo v upravnem postopku primarno zavarovano z možnostjo posameznika, da sodeluje v postopku odločanja o njegovih pravicah, dolžnostih ali pravnih koristih. Dana mu mora biti možnost, da se udeležuje postopka ugotavljanja dejstev, pomembnih za odločitev, da se izjavi o vseh dejstvih in okoliščinah, pomembnih za odločitev in izpodbija ugotovitve in navedbe organa in nasprotnih strank ter drugih udeležencev postopka (načelo zaslišanja stranke). Na ta način se posameznik v postopku obravnava kot subjekt in ne kot objekt, s čimer je na primarni ravni zavarovano njegovo dostojanstvo. Glede na to menimo, da je varstvo človekovega dostojanstva eden od glavnih ustavnopravnih temeljev načela zaslišanja stranke v upravnem postopku, zato se je treba v primeru kršitve le-tega sklicevati tudi na kršitev človekove pravice do dostojanstva. V prispevku je poleg primerjalnih ustavnopravnih podlag načela zaslišanja stranke v upravnem postopku podrobneje prikazana zakonska konkretizacija tega ustavnega temelja v slovenskem in nemškem pravu ter v pravu EU.

The importance of delegated legislation is growing in both the quantitative and qualitative sense. Under the American system, the so-called division of rulemaking authority between the legislative and executive branch was resolved at a very early juncture and in a highly pragmatic manner by applying the fundamental principles of the legislative procedure to the level of the rulemaking procedure, which primarily implies the transparency and openness of the latter. Conversely, Continental Europe did not develop a general theory of public participation which could provide a basis for the search for solutions to the situation. The purpose of this paper is to present different concepts of the rulemaking procedure and discuss the question of public participation. We conclude that, as the quantity and complexity of societal relationships grow, it is fruitful to use the so-called problem-solving model of the rulemaking procedure as a starting point for its procedural arrangement. This allows us to focus on the role that civil society, interest groups and the general public play in the contemporary governance process.

Public procurement is one of the key points of contact between public administration and the economy, while the amount of public resources is a possible source of conflict of interest and corruption. The article aims to contribute to improvements in public procurement legislation and practice. The article examines the practice of supervisory bodies and assesses the frequency of violations of the principle of transparency. The main findings of the article are that over the years of application of the Public Procurement Act in versions ZJN-2 and ZJN-3, the number of violations of the basic principle of transparency increased - the most frequent violations concerning discriminatory criteria set by the contracting authorities and their implementation in the selection phase - and that local municipal bodies violated the principle of transparency more often than state bodies.

The financial crisis has once again brought up the question of the "perfect size" of local governments and revealed a new dimension of the eternal question of financing self-governing local communities. The paper presents a comparative overview of efforts to determine the "perfect size" of municipalities and recent reforms in different countries aimed at enabling municipalities to ensure both local-level democracy and identity, and economic efficiency in the delivery of public services. One of the most popular ways for achieving this goal is to promote various forms of inter-municipal cooperation. Some forms of inter-municipal cooperation already exist in Slovenia ; a considerable breakthrough in this regard occurred in 2007, but such an approach would have been possible much earlier. Analyses show that this change is due to changes in the rules regarding co-financing. Despite the fact that neither literature nor politics in Slovenia sees inter-municipal cooperation as an alternative to merging municipalities, experiences show that practice will proceed in this direction.

Local self-government has faced a number of challenges over the past decade. The financial crisis has revealed new dimensions of the eternal question of financing self-governing local communities, while distrust and a lack of interest in participation in local democracy among the people have led to considerations of different approaches to public decision-making concerning local issues. A comparative overview shows that the question of the "perfect size" of municipalities is currently very relevant and aimed at finding dimensions that would enable the municipality to ensure both local-level democracy and identity and economic efficiency in the delivery of public services. The most popular tool for achieving this goal is the merger of municipalities, although other approaches also exist, including various forms of inter-municipal cooperation. Some forms of inter-municipal cooperation have already taken firm hold in Slovenia, although the question of the potential impacts of alternative forms of inter-municipal cooperation on the democratic legitimacy of decision-making processes and the potential of these processes for the developmental breakthrough of Slovenian municipalities has yet to receive adequate attention.

Local self-government has faced a number of challenges over the past decade. The financial crisis has revealed new dimensions of the eternal question of financing self-governing local communities, while distrust and a lack of interest in participation in local democracy among the people have led to considerations of different approaches to public decision-making concerning local issues. A comparative overview shows that, the question of the 'perfect size' of municipalities is currently very relevant and aimed at finding dimensions that would enable the municipality to ensure both local-level democracy and identity and economic efficiency in the delivery of public services. Some forms of inter-municipal cooperation have already taken firm hold in Slovenia, although the question of the potential impacts of alternative forms of inter-municipal cooperation on the democratic legitimacy of decision-making processes and the potential of these processes for the developmental breakthrough of Slovenian municipalities has yet to receive adequate attention. Adapted from the source document.