“When commenting on the thinking and actions of Prime Minister Robert Golob, it makes no sense to approach this rationally, because he is driven in politics primarily by his vanity and momentary inspiration,” explains political analyst Sebastjan Jeretič.
Prime Minister Robert Golob recently rejected the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) leader’s call to tie the vote on calling a consultative referendum on increasing defence spending to a vote of no confidence in the government. On the social network X, he told Janez Janša to “keep dreaming your dreams”, adding that he would have to wait at least one more term for his chance.
Predsednik @vladaRS dr. Golob naj v skladu s 117. členom Ustave RS veže zaupnico na glasovanje o razpisu posvetovalnega referenduma o obrambnih izdatkih. Da vidimo, kaj je res.
PV trdi, da je koalicija enotna, hkrati pa 2/3 koalicije podpira referendum, ki mu vlada nasprotuje. pic.twitter.com/rTWnZnuxqH
— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) July 1, 2025
Coalition divided on support for referendum
The proposal to call a consultative referendum was tabled by the coalition Left party (Levica). The referendum question would be: “Are you in favour of Slovenia increasing defence spending to reach 3 percent of GDP per year in 2030, which is currently around 2.1 billion euros?” The objective of increasing defence spending is enshrined in the resolution on the development and equipping of the Slovenian Armed Forces by 2040, which was also supported by the National Assembly with the votes of the majority of Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD). While the SD supports the Left party’s proposal for a referendum, the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) and the government are opposed to it, as they believe that a referendum would be contrary to national security interests. The government’s position was not supported by ministers from the SD and the Left parties.
Commentary by political analyst Sebastjan Jeretič:
“When commenting on the thinking and actions of Prime Minister Robert Golob, it makes no sense to approach this rationally, because he is driven in politics primarily by his vanity and momentary inspiration. That is how I see this statement, too.
A politician with serious long-term intentions would have seized this opportunity to discipline the coalition partners on this very important point for the country. Especially as both partners are on their knees and will have to fight to cross the parliamentary threshold in the next elections. But his statements are tailored to the audience of the moment, lying to the domestic public at one time and to the international public at another.”
Domen Mezeg
