Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar today called politicians to account for their announcement of an advisory referendum on the issue of increasing defense spending and Slovenia's withdrawal from NATO.
She emphasized that "we should not jump from one decision to another" and that passions need to be calmed, with talks between all parties.
The Slovenian parliament on Friday supported holding an advisory referendum on increasing defense spending, at the proposal of the ruling coalition's Left party. Prime Minister Robert Golob signed a declaration at the NATO summit to increase defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.
In addition to the Left, Social Democrats, also the ruling party, voted for the referendum, and the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSI) also provided support.
Such action led to a reaction from the Freedom Movement, the largest party in the ruling coalition, of which the Prime Minister of Slovenia himself is a member.
This movement announced that next week it will submit a proposal to the National Assembly of Slovenia to hold a referendum on leaving NATO, because this is a real question that citizens need to answer.
Slovenia previously passed a resolution on defense that envisions increasing military investment to three percent of GDP by 2030, while NATO leaders in The Hague reached an agreement on increasing it to five percent of GDP by 2035.
"We need to talk openly about what is actually happening behind the scenes," said Pirc Musar and announced a meeting with Prime Minister Golob, the Slovenian News Agency (STA) reported.
The leader of the strongest opposition party, SDS, Janez Janša, also spoke out on the issue of Slovenia's possible withdrawal from NATO, telling citizens that they can remain calm, because such a decision requires a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, which the current government does not have.
Disagreements on the issue of defense investments open the possibility of the ruling coalition collapsing and holding early parliamentary elections, almost a year before the end of the current mandate.
According to the results of the latest poll published on July 1, the SDS is in the best position, as 23,8 percent of voters would vote for that opposition party, while the Freedom Movement is in second place with 16,4 percent support.
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