STA, March 29, 2018 – The National Assembly voted down 44:23 on Tuesday an opposition-sponsored bill on international protection that would tighten conditions to be granted asylum in Slovenia.
The changes to the international protection act, filed by the centre-right Democrats (SDS), would stipulate that a foreigner wanting to enter Slovenia has to immediately notify the police about their intention to ask for asylum and state reasons for it.
If there is suspicion that a foreigner has committed a crime in Slovenia or if an EU country has deported them, they would not be eligible for international protection or subsidiary protection.
In such cases, the authorities would not process the request at all, but set a three to fifteen-day period for them to leave the country. Should the person not leave voluntarily, the police would launch the procedure to deport them.
According to Branko Grims of the SDS, given that migrations are becoming a major security challenge for Slovenia and the EU, such measures should be ready to be used when necessary.
He also noted that migrations via Slovenia had been on the increase lately, with migrants breaking in homes and other buildings.
The only other party to support the bill in today's parliamentary debate was the opposition centre-right New Slovenia (NSi), noting the EU had failed to limit immigration.
Zvonko Lah cautioned against "accepting uncontrolled immigration into the EU", but added that "true refugees, whom there is not a lot, should be helped".
Meanwhile, the bill was opposed by the government, all three coalition parties and the opposition Left.
Marko Ferluga of the ruling Modern Centre Party (SMC) said it would violate the convention on the status of refugees, the key document for the protection of refugees.
He believes the bill is part of "the SDS's propaganda to get the refugee crisis back on the political agenda just before the general election".
Strongly opposing the bill, Matej T. Vatovec of the Left said the outgoing government had already tightened asylum legislation [in early 2016] as much as possible under international law.
While Slovenia has one of the most restrictive asylum legislation already, the SDS's proposal "is a disgrace for humanitarian and asylum law", he said.
Toning down the debate somewhat, Benedikt Kopmajer of the coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) said that despite masses of migrants crossing Slovenia during the 2015/2016 refugee crisis, only a few people had asked for asylum in Slovenia.
"Since nothing has changed since then, there is no need to change the asylum legislation," he stressed.
Bojana Muršič of the coalition SocDems added that "the bill does absolutely nothing to resolve this global challenge of migrations".
