---
title: SDS, NSi, the Democrats and Resnica would ban foreign money
date: 2026-11-10T18:34:01Z
modified: 2026-11-10T18:36:15Z
permalink: "https://www.had.si/blog/en/2026/11/10/sds-nsi-democrats-resnica-ban-foreign-money/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: SDS, NSi, the Democrats and Resnica want to bar organisations that received foreign funds from running election and referendum campaigns. Nika Kovač responded by arranging a foreign donation to SDS.
wpid: 391233
categories:
  - Reflections
tags:
  - Reflections
  - 8 March Institute
  - Democrats
  - foreign donations
  - Nika Kovač
  - NSi
  - Resnica
  - SDS
  - Zvonko Černač
  - english
  - pll_6af363e3490cb
language:
  - english
post_translations:
  - pll_6af363e3490cb
featured_image: "https://www.had.si/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/8-marec-nika-kovac.jpg"
featured_image_alt: Marec Nika Kovac
timestamp: 2026-11-10T18:36:15Z
---

Zvonko Černač today unveiled a legislative proposal designed to prevent the 8 March Institute from taking part in pre-election campaigns. SDS, NSi, the Democrats and Resnica have proposed changing the law so that legal entities that have received any funds from abroad in the past five years would no longer be allowed to organise election and referendum campaigns. Five years. Yes, you read that correctly.

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Černač explained that the same rules must apply to everyone. In principle, entirely reasonable. Then Nika Kovač spoke up and said she had asked her Austrian friend Marlene Engelhorn to send a small donation to SDS. According to her, the transfer was made. Suddenly, the question became interesting: what happens when a principle intended to limit foreign funding for other organisations is brought to the doorstep of those advocating it?

Of course, such a transfer does not mean SDS is barred from elections. Political parties already have special funding rules, and they may not keep prohibited contributions. But the political irony remains. If a legal entity can lose its right to organise a referendum campaign because of a foreign transfer that was not even intended for a referendum campaign, then it is worth asking whether the proposal has been drafted precisely enough.

In fact, that is a far more important question than today’s political score-settling. There is no dispute that we need to know who funds election campaigns. But it becomes problematic if the law does not distinguish clearly enough between campaign funding and an organisation’s entirely different activities. Democracy is not merely the right to win an election. It is also the right to public debate, criticism of those in power and civil society participation.

And finally, the cherry on top. Nika Kovač announced that NSi, the Democrats and Resnica would also receive similar transfers from abroad. In other words, all four parties that proposed the legislative change. If the rules really are the same for everyone, it will be interesting to see how the proposers explain the difference between foreign money received by others and foreign money in their own bank accounts.