Politics
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The Erased in one of their protests in front of the parliament. (Photo: BOBO)
The Rule of Law
The Erased Become Very Visible
06.03.2009
At first glance, Aleksandar Todorović, a bearded, unprepossessing man, may seem an unlikely figure to be in the centre of a major political debate. Yet, the decision of the Ptuj District Court to award him 17,000 euros has set off a political firestorm and helped to bring about a no-confidence motion against Interior Minister Katarina Kresal.
Slovenia’s opposition parties, which launched the motion, accuse Kresal of acting inappropriately in her decision to start granting retroactive residence permits to the “erased”, a group of as many as 25,000 residents of other former Yugoslav republics who were removed from Slovenia’s permanent resident registry in 1992.
Kresal says that she is simply following a 2003 Constitutional Court ruling. The opposition parties, which favour a case-by-case approach to the issue of the Erased, respond that she is applying the ruling improperly and ignoring the results of a referendum that defeated a draft law on the erased.
Euros and Sense
At the centre of the debate is money. The opposition portrays the Todorović case as a dangerous precedent that could end costing Slovenia millions upon millions of euros.
Todorović is one of the “erased”; he’s also their most vocal representative. On February 20, the court granted Todorović compensation for lost revenue because he was unable to get a work permit after he was removed from the registry after independence. The verdict came after a protracted legal battle that had begun in 1996.
To many critics in Slovenia, the ruling represents a dangerous precedent. If Todorović is entitled to 17,000 euros, what happens to the other 25,000 or so of the erased? Are they also in line to receive substantial compensation from the state?
Former Interior Minister Dragutin Mate of the SDS party certainly thinks so. He argues that nothing prevents thousands of other erased from filing such claims as the government progressively resolves their status.
Mate and other representatives of the opposition are strongly critical of the government’s decision to start reinstating the status of the erased by issuing them full residency documents. They put the blame for the financial consequences squarely on Kresal: “A consequence will be the state admitting directly that we did not have proper legislation in a certain period of time,” says Mate.
Kresal rejects the notion that issuing the documents opens the door to large-scale compensation. “Each individual compensation is subject of a special legal procedure and is a matter of the courts and not the ministry,” says Kresal, adding that out of the six lawsuits that have run the full judicial course so far, none have resulted in any compensation for the plaintiff. “Those who think that this opens the door to more and more claims for compensation are sorely mistaken,” agrees Matevž Krivic, who represents the erased: “There are so many unanswered legal questions that it will take many years before anyone will receive anything.”
Political Hardball
Kresal also stresses that under Slovenian law, the judgment in the Todorović case is not yet final. The State Attorney will launch an appeal, based in part on the argument that the statute of limitations for Todorović’s claim has run out. The State Attorney’s Office also stresses that the judgment in Todorović’s favor was not a direct result of his erasure, but rather the denial of a work permit that was merely an indirect result of his “erased” status. According to the State Attorney’s Office, he precedent-setting potential of the ruling, even if it finalized, is therefore limited.
Besides, says Kresal, the government is simply enforcing the 2003 Constitutional Court ruling that requires the state to restore full status to the erased. Kresal’s decision was certainly not a huge surprise. The parties of the governing coalition, including Kresal’s LDS, had been sharply critical of the previous government’s failure to enforce the Constitutional Court ruling. “As a minister I swore before parliament that I would respect the Slovenian legal order and this is what I am doing,” says Kresal.
But to the opposition, the judgment awarded to Todorović is proof that the government’s strategy was not only rash and ill considered, but that it was also presented in dishonest way. Mate argues that it is now obvious that the government was misleading the public when it argued that the erased would not receive any compensation.
According to the opposition, the state may end up paying EUR 425 million if each of the erased sues the state and receives as much as Todorović. Brako Grims of the opposition SDS is quick to point out that the amount doesn’t even include court costs. “The issuing of decisions in these times of unfavourable economic conditions, financial crisis and growing unemployment is unsuitable, improper and unjust,” says Grims, adding that Kresal’s policy is particularly unfair to those residents of other former Yugoslav republics who did obtain residence papers in 1992.
A Never-Ending Story
Questions concerning the loyalty of some the erased have been at the forefront of the public debate. Several critics of the government’s policy argue that some of the erased failed to get their documents in order when they still had time because they felt no loyalty to Slovenia or were unsure if the new country was viable. Some critics, including Grims, argue that a number of the erased were soldiers of the Yugoslav National Army during the Ten-Day War and that some even participated in aggression against Slovenia.
The government rejects this argument. According to Borut Sajovic of collation LDS party, authorities will make that those who fought against Slovenia in 1991 will not be eligible for compensation.
Even the total number of the erased is disputed by some. The Interior Ministry’s recently revised number of 25,671 is significantly higher than the previously estimated 18,305. Zmago Jelinčič, the head of the populist SNS, isn’t buying the numbers. In addition to arguing that the number “significantly exceeds the number of people who...decided in a self-willed manner to reject Slovenian citizenship,” Jelinčič also states that he finds it impossible to believe that 5,630 of the Erased were minors.
Further raising tensions is Todorović’s statement that he is not satisfied with the amount of compensation he is set to receive. He says that the amount represents just 30% of what he had asked for and that he will appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
The saga of the erased has in the forefront of public debate in Slovenia for years. On occasion, the story has even spilled beyond the country’s borders. Several international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have condemned Slovenia’s treatment of the erased, and some of the erased even toured Europe to draw attention to their plight.
Whatever the result of the no-confidence vote against Kresal, the saga of the erased is far from over.