Slovenia to name consultative referendum on NATO membership

[ad_1] Slovenia’s liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob mentioned on Friday that he intends to name a consultative referendum on the nation’s NATO membership, following a shock defeat in parliament over a associated measure on defence spending.

"There are solely two methods: both we stay in NATO and pay membership, or we go away the alliance – every part else is populist deceit of the residents of Slovenia," Golob mentioned, in line with a authorities statement .

His referendum is predicted to be formally tabled subsequent week.

Golob’s gambit comes as a part of a injury management effort in response to a profitable initiative by The Left occasion, a junior companion in his centre-left coalition, pushing for a consultative referendum on rising defence expenditure.

In an surprising end result, Slovenian MPs accredited The Left's proposal 46 to 42 on Friday. The referendum query will ask voters "whether or not they're in favour of Slovenia rising defence spending to three% of GDP yearly in 2030, or roughly €2.1 billion".

Golob's liberal Freedom Motion occasion voted in opposition to the initiative, whereas his junior coalition companions – the Social Democrats and The Left – sided with the conservative opposition to again it, deepening rifts inside the ruling bloc.

Discontent had been brewing since Slovenia signed up to higher NATO defence spending commitments on the NATO summit in The Hague on 24 June, which envisage members elevating navy expenditure to as a lot as 5% of GDP by 2035.

Slovenia is among the many few international locations that failed to meet NATO's earlier 2% GDP spending goal in 2024, though Ljubljana acknowledged it aimed to hit it by the tip of 2025.

Golob mentioned his counter-referendum thought was meant to "dispel any doubt as to the true will of the individuals.”

Though consultative referenda in Slovenia are usually not legally binding, the opposition, led by conservative SDS chief Janez Janša, has referred to as on Golob to hyperlink a vote of confidence within the authorities to the end result of the plebiscite, which Golob has dismissed.

Janša, a detailed ally of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and a staunch Trump supporter, is claimed to have ambitions to return to energy in parliamentary elections scheduled for 2026.