The foundations for the new Constitution were laid already in 1998, with what is termed the writers' constitution, a document drawn up under the leadership of the Slovenian Writers' Association.

The initiative was picked up by the DEMOS coalition of parties, which presented in March 1990 its own version which drew strongly on the writers' document.

After DEMOS won in April 1990 the first multi-party elections in the country following WWII, the project started its process in parliament.

Its Constitutional Commission, led by Speaker France Bučar, who is considered a key force behind the feat, tasked a group of experts from different fields with preparing a draft constitution that would be submitted to parliament.

The six-strong group was led by Peter Jambrek, while it also featured several future Constitutional Court judges, such as as Tone Jerovšek and Matevž Krivic, as well as philosopher Tine Hribar. Miro Cerar, presently the country's prime minister, served as secretary.

Jambrek told the STA that they had finished writing the text in five days. They were meeting at Podvin Caslte in the north-west each morning working until the evening. The discussions ran smoothly and most formulations were reached with full consensus.

The writers' constitution was again taken as a starting point, while Jerovšek, who was allegedly critical of this, told the STA that he was probably not the only one who took a lot from the German constitution, which in turn had already largely been the basis for the writers' document.

The draft went through some changes later in parliament, but Jambrek said that its frame and most of the text were left intact. Among the things stricken out of the document were references to "sanctity of life" and "human dignity".

Philosopher Hribar regrets this, saying that "everyone is admitting today that human dignity is the source of everything, including human rights". "Also key is the sanctity of life," the Heidegger expert added.

Meanwhile, added to the draft was a decision to establish the National Council, modelled on the Bavarian Senate as a kind of second chamber of parliament.

Also altered in the process was the proposal to have the president of the country appoint cabinet ministers upon a proposal by the prime minister.

Former constitutional judge Lojze Ude, who had helped the Podvin group as a seventh member for a day, said that while parliament passed the Constitution with a strong majority, consensus first had to be found on several contentious issues, including "the introduction to the Constitution, local government, the status of the president etc.".

The 1991 document has seen seven bigger and a total of ten changes, with Ude arguing that the pace of developments in the recent period had made certain changes urgent, especially those allowing Slovenia's international integration [the EU, NATO].

"What was not urgent was the fiscal rule provision, which for instance is now preventing the state from issuing a guarantee for the construction of the second rail [to the port of Koper] and from addressing the social situation of those living below the poverty line."

"This provision was forced in a way," said Ude, who meanwhile feels the recent enshrining of the right to drinking water in the Constitution was vital.