Constitutional Reforms of Citizen-Initiated Referendum

In the opinion of many Slovenian and Croatian scholars, the constitutional and legislative design of citizen-initiated referendums in their respective countries was in many ways flawed. Referendums initiated by citizens have caused, at least from the point of view of governments in these two countries, many unexpected constitutional, political and/or economic problems. Over the years, several unsuccessful constitutional reforms of the institute of referendum have been attempted both in Slovenia and Croatia. In 2013, Slovenia finally attained its ‘constitutional moment’ in which it was possible to reach an almost universal consensus in the National Assembly on constitutionally redesigning the legislative referendum. On the other hand, several attempts by the Croatian Parliament to amend the constitutional provision relating to citizens’ initiatives have come to nothing due to the interests of the major parties in the constitutional amendment process being different.Ustavne reforme referenduma na zahtevo volivcev. Razlogi za različne izide v Sloveniji in na Hrvaškem. Po mnenju mnogih slovenski in hrvaških strokovnjakov je bila ustavna in zakonska zasnova referenduma na zahtevo volivcev v njihovih državah v mnogočem pomanjkljiva. Referendumi, sproženi s strani volivcev, so po mnenju vlad v teh dveh državah povzročili številne nepričakovane ustavne, politične in/ali ekonomske probleme. V preteklih letih je bilo tako v Sloveniji kot na Hrvaškem več neuspelih poskusov ustavne reforme referenduma. Leta 2013 je Slovenija končno doživela svoj 'ustavni trenutek', v katerem je bilo mogoče v Državnem zboru doseči skoraj popoln konsenz glede ustavnega preoblikovanja zakonodajnega referenduma. Po drugi strani so bili številni poskusi hrvaškega parlamenta, da bi spremenili določbe glede ljudske iniciative neuspešni zaradi interesa največjih strank, da bi bil postopek spreminjanja ustave drugačen