Efforts of the Drava Province Council to Realize Provincial Autonomy, Decentralize Administration, and Expand Its Competences

Abstract

Based mainly on shorthand and official minutes, the paper focuses on the course of the 3rd regular and the 4th extraordinary meetings of the Drava Province council, the provincial governor’s advisory body, in 1933. By circumventing legal provisions, the provincial council managed to increase its influence on stipulating expenditure and revenues when passing the 1933/34 provincial budget. During the discussion of the budget, with which it tried to mitigate harsh social circumstances that were the result of the great depression, it proposed special resolutions, demanding immediate implementation of constitutional provisions regarding provincial autonomy and administrative decentralization. It also firmly rejected the tendencies of the banned Slovenska ljudska stranka (Slovene People’s Party) to attain national autonomy. When discussing municipal elections at the extraordinary session, the council extended its competence to the regulatory sphere as well, which had not been provided in the 1930 regulations on its activities.