Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 27/12/2021
The 10th so-called anti-corona package, the Act on Additional Measures to Stop Spreading and Mitigate, Control, Recover and Eliminate the Consequences of COVID-19, provides compensation for all those who have suffered serious and lasting health problems as a result of the vaccination against COVID-19.
On 28 November, the Slovenian news portal Pravda.si reported on the draft of the 10th anti-corona package (PKP10), which had been approved by the government ten days earlier. The portal reported that, by adopting the PKP10, the government will, for the first time in history, enact mandatory vaccinations for all citizens. The National Assembly adopted the PKP10 on 27 December.
The news portal explained to Razkrinkavanje.si that their article did not claim that the draft PKP10 sets out the introduction of mandatory vaccinations: “This is not introduced by the PKP10, however, it will be regulated by another law that will be adopted in the future (if there is such a law).” According to them, this will most likely be done with an amendment to the Communicable Diseases Act (ZNB). They did not explain why they believe this.
They claim that the PKP10 “paves the way for mandatory vaccinations” because it “undoubtedly introduces” rule by decree.
The draft PKP10 stipulates, inter alia, that public gatherings, organization, and performance of work, the exercise of religious beliefs and practices, provision of services, and sale of goods may be subject to restrictions imposed by the Government, acting on the basis of the assessment by the Ministry of Health Expert Group. In doing so, the Government may require citizens to comply with hygiene and safety measures, to provide proof of immunity or a negative Covid test, and to disclose personal data to those monitoring compliance with the provisions of the PKP10. The fines imposed under the draft law range from €400 to €4,000 for individuals and from €4,000 to €100,000 for legal entities.
Dragica Wedam Lukić, former professor of law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana and former Constitutional Court judge, told Razkrinkavanje.si that the assumption that the adoption of the PKP10 will create a legal basis to enact mandatory vaccinations in another law in the future is absurd. Individual laws cannot serve as the basis for or affect, adoption of other laws as a new law invalidates and replaces the previous law.
She further explained that there is no provision in the draft PKP10 that gives the Government powers to rule by decree. If there was, it would be unconstitutional.
“I have found no basis for the claim that the PKP10 ‘undoubtedly introduces’ rule by decree in the draft. This is just conjecture that has nothing to do with the introduction of mandatory vaccinations because the law does not enforce it,” elaborated Wedam Lukić.
Katarina Emeršič Polić from the law firm Pirc Musar & Lemut Strle specialising, in addition to other areas, in medical law also agrees that the PKP10 does not establish rule by decree. What can be legislated by government decrees is already laid down in the Government of the Republic of Slovenia Act.
Compensation for injuries associated with voluntary vaccinations
The author of the Pravda.si article also claimed that the PKP10 paves the way for blanket mandatory vaccinations. However, the draft law sets out only that everyone who has suffered serious and lasting health problems as a result of the vaccination against COVID-19 and relatives of those who have died from the COVID-19 vaccines will be entitled to compensation payments. In this part the draft refers to the Communicable Diseases Act (ZNB), which provides for compensation after mandatory vaccinations against other diseases.
“This does not mean that vaccination will now be made mandatory, the draft simply refers to the regulation stipulating liability for injuries associated with mandatory vaccinations,” Emeršič Polić stressed. If the PKP10 did not refer to the ZNB, the provision of compensation and the number of compensation payments would have to be set out in this act.
The introduction of mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 would require amending the Communicable Diseases Act, which was first adopted in 1995 and which provides for mandatory vaccinations against diseases such as rubella and hepatitis B, Emeršič Polić explained.
Pravda.si news portal covers the pandemic and vaccinations, as well as politics, and in some articles, it also features Andrej Šiško, the founder of the extra-parliamentary political party Zedinjena Slovenija (United Slovenia) and the leader of Štajerska Varda, Slovenian paramilitary organization (Štajerska Guard).
We have sent a request for comment to the Pravda.si institute and news portal about the finding that the draft PKP10 does not provide a legal basis for the introduction of mandatory vaccinations by another law in the future. We will publish their response if we receive it.
The claim that the PKP10 introduces a legal basis for mandatory vaccinations for all citizens to be enshrined in any law for the first time in the history of Slovenia is false.