The government’s prevarication regarding defence spending is over. The Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati – SD) and the Left party (Levica) wanted to “bluff” and pretend that they wanted a referendum, thinking that there would not be enough support in the National Assembly anyway, but their plans were foiled by the opposition.
The National Assembly approved the proposal to call a consultative referendum on the increase in defence spending by 46 votes to 42. The initiative was tabled by the Left party, the Social Democrats and part of the opposition. However, the success of the initiative will depend mainly on broader support, including opposition votes.
Militant hysteria?
The Left party considers the NATO pressure to be unreasonable “militant hysteria” and points out that a possible increase in the defence budget to 5 percent of GDP would mean spending one fifth of the total state budget on armaments. On the contrary, Defence Minister Borut Sajovic stresses that the world has changed and that we need to strengthen our defence capacities for the sake of security – Slovenia should increase defence spending to three percent of GDP by 2030.
The New Slovenia party (Nova Slovenija – NSi) supports the increase, but it wants a measured approach. MP Janez Žakelj accused the coalition of being disingenuous, as the government’s pre-NATO summit platform already contained a commitment to five percent spending. The SD and the Left party believe that a referendum is necessary as it would allow the people to decide on an important development path.
The Freedom Movement was left alone
The Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) opposes the referendum. MP Rajbenšu pointed out that this is a complex issue that requires responsible action, not political likability. However, Anže Logar, of the Deputy Group of Unaffiliated Deputies, believes that the whole debate is a sign of the fragmentation of the coalition. The Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) did not join the debate. On the X network, party president Janez Janša accused the coalition of insincerity and tactics with the electorate. Matej T. Vatovec of the Left party, however, said that the main goal was to allow the people to decide on the possible militarisation of society.
Opposition disrupted the coalition dealings
It is clear to those in the know what is going on. The Freedom Movement, as the leading party in the coalition, has neither the power nor the prestige to dictate the terms of defence spending by its members within the Euro-Atlantic NATO alliance.
On the other hand, the SD and the Left party, officially as socialist parties tacitly supporting anarcho-terrorism, have to pretend that they are against any further rearmament, let alone the five percent to which the Slovenian government has committed itself. That is why they wanted to secretly launch a “failed” referendum attempt, an attempt which has not worked out in their favour, now that part of the opposition has backed them.
The question arises as to whether this move might signal the beginning of the end of the Golob coalition.
The Freedom Movement with a shocking proposal for a referendum on leaving NATO!
After the Slovenian National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a consultative referendum on the increase in defence spending, the Freedom Movement announced a proposal for a consultative referendum on Slovenia’s NATO membership, as it believes that this is the right question to be answered by the citizens.
“There are only two possible paths: either we stay in the Alliance and pay the membership fee, or we leave the Alliance. Everything else is populist misleading of the citizens of Slovenia,” Robert Golob, President of the Freedom Movement and Prime Minister, wrote on the X network. According to him, on Friday, the National Assembly adopted a proposal “on a new meaningless referendum” because of the “coalition of the Slovenian Democratic Party, New Slovenia party, and the Social Democrats party.” The Freedom Movement submitted its referendum initiative “to remove any doubt about the true will of the people.”
Janša: “A debate is very much needed”
Janez Janša also took to social media and wrote the following:
“A DEBATE ON HOW THE 20% PERCENT OF THE BUDGET WILL BE SPENT IS VERY MUCH NEEDED
When Slovenia was joining NATO, the government of the time, led by Dr Drnovšek, was willing to work with the opposition. Together, we set up the NATO Committee, and together, we campaigned for it. And we succeeded. Slovenia was safer for a while. But the current Golob government coalition is not even able to coordinate with each other. Let alone with the opposition. And today, we heard the Minister for Defence calling for unity. What prevarication, what arrogance. They have not even called a meeting of the National Security Council, they did not even have a single coordination of the parliamentary parties, in the run-up to the NATO summit, on the subject of the huge increase in defence expenditure. There was no such meeting even on the defence resolution. They have adopted a poor document that does not justify increasing defence spending to 20 percent of the budget. They did not say how they are going to come up with 40,000 troops, and who the new weapons are actually for. Therefore, the debate before the consultative referendum may be an opportunity for a remedial examination, which should sober up the rulers and shorten their damaging mandate. The referendum itself is deliberative in nature; it will have no legal consequences, but it will have political ones. The debate is all the more necessary, the referendum itself cannot be won anyway because of the double game of the rulers, so on an invalid ballot paper, you should simply write:
DOWN WITH THE INCOMPETENT AND UNATTUNED GOVERNMENT!
The SDS party is aware that:
1. that the security of Europe, and with it Slovenia, is significantly lower than it was decades ago, because in the two decades of this century we have neglected our own capacities and have become strategically dependent on cheap energy resources from Russia, industrial products from China and the American defence umbrella – without all of this being true, Putin would not have invaded Ukraine,
2. that collective defence in NATO is more effective and cheaper than defending yourself, as we had to do in the 1991 aggression of the Yugoslav People’s Army, but no one will defend you if you are not able to defend yourself,
3. that promises to allies bind a country, no matter which government makes them,
4. that the left-wing government is incapable of spending 20 percent of the defence budget rationally, as they have clearly demonstrated with the resolution,
5. that the Slovenian government is obliged to build the national defence and security system in such a way that it will first and foremost guarantee Slovenia’s security, and then everything else,
6. that only then – when we also know how many troops, when and how they will be provided – can we rationally decide how much money we really need for defence and when.
The referendum campaign, which the government coalition itself brought about with its manipulation, should therefore be used for a rational, albeit belated, debate on an otherwise extremely important subject.”
I. K.
