Ljubljana, 14 July (STA) - The issue of the "erased" was on the agenda of the parliamentary July session on Thursday, with Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek telling MPs that it is high time for the problem to be resolved in line with the Constitutional Court ruling.
The ombudsman said upon presenting his report on the erased that he expects the parliament to adopt a decision settling the status of the erased immediately and in line with the ruling delivered by the Constitutional Court in 2003.

Also attending the session, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate responded that the government is currently drafting a "constitutional act or an act tackling the issue in an integral way" that it plans to send to parliament in December.

Mate said that the Interior Ministry issued a total of 4,093 notices reinstating the permanent residency status of the erased retroactively between July and September 2004. He said that the ministry stopped issuing the notices last September though due to lack of financial funds.

A total of 18,000 former Yugoslav citizens were erased from Slovenia's population registry in 1992 after the country went independent a year before.

Today's parliamentary debate showed once again that the ruling coalition and the opposition remain divided over how to tackle the issue.

MPs of three coalition parties, the SDS, the NSi and the SLS, insisted that an act on the erased should introduce individual examination of cases and should not allow for high compensation demands against the state.

The opposition SD and LDS lawmakers meanwhile suspect the government might attempt to pass over the Constitutional Court ruling. Majda Sirca of the LDS said that this year's government plans for tackling the issue are vague.

Bostjan Zagorc of the opposition National Party (SNS) meanwhile accused the ombudsman of drafting a one-sided report. Hanzek responded that the report might only be "one-sided in its calls for the rule of rule and respect of human rights".