The regionalization of Slovenia implies that it is about a demanding professional & political project, which is expected to be completed in 2008 by establishing the regions. The beginning of their functioning is planned as from 1 January 2009. In order to provide this process, some constitutional amendments were introduced in 2006 The regional legislation with its associated implementing regulations should implement them. The bills on regions, their financing, regional elections & establishment of regions (these bills are already being discussed in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia) are a touchstone for introduction of regions & for a successful beginning of their functioning. There is a variety of challenges & dilemmas regarding regional competences & the number of regions, own tax resources, regional authority organization & other issues. Very few international standards & good local & regional self-government principles are adhered to in Slovenia. For this reason, some criticism has come from the Council of Europe & the European Union. Although regionalization is an internal matter of the states concerned, the European principles regarding the objectives of regionalization, division & sharing of powers between levels of government, the scope of regional self-government, sharing of tax revenues & public finance, the connection between the regionalization processes & European & world processes, etc. cannot be avoided. References. Adapted from the source document.
V Sloveniji se že vrsto let odvijajo razprave o ustanovitvi druge ravni lokalne samouprave, kljub več poskusom in ustavni zahtevi pa zaenkrat še vedno nimamo pokrajin. Regionalna in širša lokalna samouprava sta stalnici v večini držav Evropske unije (EU), eden izmed ključnih in najpomembnejših vidikov vzpostavitve take oblike oblasti pa je prav gotovo skrbna in ciljno naravnana določitev pristojnosti. V osrednjem delu te naloge so predstavljene okvirne ureditve nalog pokrajin v državah EU po naslednjih vsebinskih sklopih: zdravstvo, regionalni razvoj, gospodarstvo in turizem, izobraževanje in kultura ter infrastruktura, varstvo okolja in kmetijstvo. Naloga na kratko predstavi tudi prispevek Sveta Evrope in EU k razvoju lokalne samouprave na tej vmesni ravni, za jasnejše razumevanje pa poskuša jasno določiti tudi ločnico med federalno in unitarno ureditvijo ter regionalno in širšo lokalno samoupravo. Na koncu dodaja pregled stanja v Sloveniji v povezavi z ustanovitvijo pokrajin, določitvijo njihovih pristojnosti, njihovo ureditvijo v ustavi in trenutni predlagani zakonodaji. Ustava Republike Slovenije iz leta 1991 namreč predvideva tri vrste pristojnosti, in sicer naloge širšega lokalnega pomena, zadeve regionalnega pomena in naloge iz državne pristojnosti. Pri tem bomo morali biti pozorni, da pokrajinam ne bomo naložili preveč državnih pristojnosti in jim tako otežili ali celo onemogočili učinkovito opravljanje njihovih izvirnih pristojnosti. Ustrezna določitev pristojnosti je namreč ključnega pomena, pri tem pa nam je lahko v veliko pomoč poznavanje dobrih praks drugih držav, vendar pa se moramo vedno zavedati, da jih je treba razumeti v luči njihove družbene realnosti in ne pričakovati popolne preslikave pri nas. ; In Slovenia, discussion about the establishment of the secondary level of local self-government have been going on for years, but despite numerous attempts and a constitutional order, we still do not have provinces. Regional and local self-government are regularities in the majority of States of the European Union (EU), but one of the crucial and most important aspects of the establishment of such an authority is for sure a careful and goal-oriented determination of competences. In the main part of this thesis, we present framework regulations of the tasks of provinces in EU States by the following content sets: healthcare, regional development, economy and tourism, education and culture, infrastructure, environmental protection and agriculture. The thesis also briefly presents the contribution of the Council of Europe and EU to the development of local self-government at this intermediate level, but for better understanding, it tries to set a clear boundary between the federal and unitary regulation and the regional and wider local self-government. Finally, it adds an overview of the state in Slovenia in relation to the establishment of provinces, the determination of their competences, their regulation in the constitution and current proposed legislation. The 1991 Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia namely assumes three types of competences ; tasks of wider local importance, matters of regional importance and tasks within the State competence. In this manner, we will have to be careful to not assign to many State competences to provinces and thus complicate or even prevent provinces from effectively execute their original competences. Appropriate determination of competences is namely crucial and in this matter knowledge about good practices of other States can be of great help to us, but we have to be always aware that we have to understand them in the light of their social reality and not expect their perfect reflection in our case.
