Ljubljana - The government has tasked the ministries of justice and home affairs to draw up an analysis of the legal bases used in procedures against individuals for breaking Covid-19 containment measures to see whether fines might have been unfair or unlawful.

Addressing reporters after the cabinet session on Thursday, Interior Minister Tatjana Bobnar said the government took two decisions concerning notices for violations issued during the Covid-19 epidemic and suits for the costs of policing at protests that had not been registered with the police.

In one decision the Justice Ministry was tasked to work with the Interior Ministry and the government legal service to prepare by the end of August at the latest an analysis of the legal bases used in various procedures or penalty notices against individuals for violating measures taken by the previous government against the spread of coronavirus.

The minister noted that the Constitutional Court had already ruled the government decrees and regulations concerned as unconstitutional because they did not have a basis in a corresponding law.

"Only based on the analysis will it be possible to decide on further steps over the identified shortcomings. The key criterion will be the principles of constitutionality, legality and proportionality. This is not going to be a big brush stroke. We're not going to equate thugs with peaceful protesters," she said.

The government also annulled all decisions taken by the previous government in December 2021 for legal actions to claim compensation for the costs of policing of anti-government rallies.

Bobnar said constitutional rights could only be restricted as an exception and only when such a measure was urgent and proportionate. A mere formal defect, such as failure to register a protest rally, did not justify claims for damages for police costs. This formal deficiency has already been sanctioned by a fine that the police have imposed, she said.