The Parliament of Slovenia ratifies the recognition of the Palestinian State

The Parliament of Slovenia approved this Tuesday the recognition of the Palestinian State, after the Council of Ministers sent its proposal to the House last Thursday. This, a country of 2.1 million inhabitants and with an area smaller than that of Galicia, thus joins the recognition announced in a coordinated manner on May 28 by the governments of Spain, Ireland and Norway. 52 of the 53 deputies present voted in favor of recognition, in a chamber of 90 seats, without any vote against. Several local media highlighted Slovenia thus becoming the 147th member of the United Nations to recognize Palestine.

Once the vote was concluded, the Slovenian Prime Minister, Robert Golob, of the Freedom Movement (GS), an environmental and liberal party, wrote on the official government account on the social network independent sends hope to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza.”

The opposition Slovenian Democratic Party, led by conservative populist leader and former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, had requested on Monday the calling of a consultative referendum, in order to delay the recognition process for a month. But the three parties that make up the coalition government searched throughout the morning for a way to legally avoid this delaying ploy. Jansa’s party withdrew its proposal to call a referendum just before the Parliament session began in the early afternoon, but he re-presented it during the debate. Jansa explained that the first proposal was withdrawn only for technical reasons, he warned that a possible vote would be void, and immediately afterwards, the 27 deputies of his party, in a chamber of 90 seats, left the room, according to the local newspaper. Delo. Parliament Speaker Urska Klakocar noted that she had already “openly abused the consultative referendum proposal and the legal institutions” and that she was not going to allow any more abuses.

The Slovenian coalition government is led by Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement (GS). This expert energy engineer defeated the Jansa party in April 2022 with 34% of the votes and 41 seats. Since then, Golob governs in coalition with the Social Democratic party (seven seats) and The Left (five seats), with 53 legislators in total.

The Slovenian Council of Ministers approved the recognition of the Palestinian State last Thursday, two days after Spain, Ireland and Norway did so. All that remained was the vote in Parliament. That day, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted a tweet, in which he said: “The Slovenian Government’s decision to recommend that the Slovenian Parliament recognize a Palestinian state rewards Hamas for murders, rapes, mutilations of bodies and beheadings.” of babies, and strengthens the Iranian axis of evil while damaging the close friendship between the Slovenian and Israeli people. I hope that the Slovenian Parliament will reject this recommendation.” The head of Israeli diplomacy tagged in that message Janez Jansa, who maintains excellent relations with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

For his part, the Slovenian prime minister, after approving the recognition of Palestine in the Council of Ministers, expressed himself in similar terms to those of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, pointing out that the decision “is not directed against anyone, not even against Israel.” , but it is a message of peace.” “This decision,” he added, “has a message to both sides that we want a quick and immediate cessation of hostilities and an immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.”

Bostjan Videmsek, a journalist specializing in the Middle East for the newspaper Delo, told this newspaper that the Government considered the idea of ​​approving the recognition of Palestine on Tuesday, May 28, the same date on which it was endorsed by the governments of Spain, Ireland and Norway. . “But there were divisions within the government coalition,” he says.

Videmsek believes that pro-Palestinian sentiment in his country comes from afar. “Yugoslavia was perhaps the main driver of the Non-Aligned movement. And there was always a lot of sympathy for the Palestinian cause. When we became independent, in 1991, that feeling remained alive. “There were many Palestinians studying in Slovenia.” Videmsek explains that the main right-wing party is doing what other right-wing parties elsewhere are doing: equating Hamas with all Palestinians.

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