Another promising piece of news came from Strasbourg in December: 10 years after the court's decision on the Lukenda case Slovenian court delays are no longer a systemic problem. This is an important step in the right direction for Slovenia – further away from the list of countries that violate human rights.

In the past decade, Slovenia lost three attention-grabbing court cases at ECHR, which found systemic violations: due to protracted court procedures, erased citizens and lost foreign-currency deposits in the now-defunct Ljubljanska Banka (LB).

In total, Slovenia lost 341 court cases, out of which 31 rulings took place in 2014, 14 losses in 2015 and only four court cases last year. Merely due to court delays, Slovenia has paid over three million euros in restitution. The first conviction related to too lengthy court procedures, the Lukenda case, dates back to the year 2005. However, as a competent authority founded by the Council of Europe established after a thorough and independent examination of the Slovenian judicial system in 2016, court delays are no longer a systemic problem. This signifies that Slovenian court delays are not deemed an open matter by the ECHR anymore.

Another chapter was closed in 2016: the Erased. The ECHR had determined that Slovenia's proposed compensation scheme was adequate. A little less than 50 cases remain open and require special monitoring of Slovenia. They are related to the Ališič case and other LB's account holders from Bosnia and Croatia. The court is expected to make a decision on the case as early as this year. After that there will be less than ten open cases against Slovenia.

J. L. (Radio Slovenia); translated by K. Z.