Dramatic twist in Slovenia: Parliament voted on Tuesday for a decree recognizing the State of Palestine, the ruling coalition having decided to force its way and reject an opposition motion.
A week after Spain, Ireland and Norway, the small Alpine country took the plunge after many twists and turns.
The decree was approved by 52 votes out of 90 seats, the opposition having boycotted the session with the exception of one deputy who abstained.
The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of former conservative Prime Minister Janez Jansa tabled a proposal on Monday aimed at organizing a consultative referendum. This maneuver was supposed to delay the vote for 30 days under parliamentary rules.
But against all expectations, Parliament President Urska Klakocar Zupancic estimated on Tuesday that the opposition had “abused the referendum mechanism”, asserting that the 30-day deadline only applied to bills and not to decrees.
During a chaotic six-hour session, interrupted several times for procedural reasons, the opposition motion was rejected by a large majority and then the decree passed.
Mr. Jansa had previously accused the center-left coalition in power of “breaking procedure”, leaving the chamber with his party’s elected officials.
The government sent the decree to Parliament for approval last week, speeding up the procedure in order to ratify the decision before Sunday’s European elections, the opposition accuses.
A political calculation denounced by Janez Jansa, close in the past to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the text of his motion, such recognition “causes long-term damage to Slovenia by supporting the terrorist organization Hamas.”
Message of hope “
On the contrary, Liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob sees it as “a message of peace”.
“The recognition of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state brings hope to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” he wrote on the government’s X account (formerly Twitter).
Nearly 60% of Slovenians support this measure, while 20% of them oppose it, according to a survey carried out in April among a sample of 600 citizens and published by the daily Dnevnik.
Spain and Ireland, both members of the EU, as well as Norway officially recognized the State of Palestine at the end of May, a decision which infuriated the Israeli authorities.
Last week, Israel said it hoped the Slovenian Parliament would reject the decree, “a reward for Hamas”.
The issue also gives rise to deep disagreements within the EU.
Other member states, such as France, believe that now is not the right time, with Paris accusing its European allies of “political positioning” in the run-up to the European elections rather than seeking a diplomatic solution.
Germany, which also defends a two-state solution, considers that such recognition must be the result of direct negotiations between the parties to the conflict.
Before the Slovenian vote, the State of Palestine was recognized by 145 of the 193 members of the UN, according to figures given by the Palestinian Authority.
Most countries in Western Europe and North America, Australia, Japan and South Korea are absent from this list.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people on the Israeli side, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In response, the Israeli army launched a devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas, classified as a “terrorist” organization by Israel, the European Union and the United States in particular, took power in 2007.
At least 36,550 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, according to figures from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.