Slovenian Government Coalition Recognises Palestine

On the evening of 4 June, the National Assembly of Slovenia voted to recognise Palestine as an ‘independent and sovereign state’.  The draft decision of the Slovenian government on the recognition of the Palestinian state was voted for by 52 out of 53 MPs present, DELO reports.

The decision of the Slovenian government was made after a similar step by Spain, Ireland, and Norway. In response, Israel recalled its ambassadors from these three countries for ‘urgent consultations’.

The voting in the Slovenian parliament was to be prevented by a proposal for a consultative referendum submitted the day before by the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SNS), which argued that the parliament should now return to the issue of Palestinian recognition in 30 days. 

However, the government coalition said that the rules of procedure did not specify a clear 30-day period, but only a period of ‘no more than 30 days’, so it voted to recognise Palestine on the same day as it rejected the SNS's referendum proposal.     

In response, the opposition boycotted the final vote, which resulted in Slovenia becoming the 147th member of the United Nations to recognise Palestine.

In contrast, the administration of US President Joe Biden did not support the unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state by Spain, Ireland and Norway, but supports such recognition in principle through diplomatic negotiations.