Slovenian lawmakers are due to vote on Tuesday, June 4, on whether to recognise a Palestinian state, the parliament speaker said on Thursday, May 30, just days after three other European nations extended their recognition. "The session is scheduled for Tuesday from 4:00 pm," parliament speaker Urska Klakocar Zupancic told a press conference in Ljubljana.
The three centre-left parties in the governing coalition, which hold 51 of the 90 seats in parliament, support the recognition of a state of Palestine, as part of efforts to end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible. Almost 60% of Slovenians back the recognition of a Palestine state while 20% oppose it, according to an April poll of 600 people published by the Dnevnik daily newspaper.
Spain, Ireland and Norway recognised a Palestinian state this week, bringing the number of the United Nations' 193 member states that have recognised the statehood to 145, according to the Palestinian authorities.
Earlier on Thursday, Slovenia's center-left government sent a decree on recognising a Palestine state for parliamentary approval, speeding up a procedure that was initially scheduled to end by mid-June. With the decree, Slovenia recognises the Palestinian state within the territories set by the 1967 UN resolution or according to any future peace agreement reached by both parties.
"This is a message of peace, we believe the moment is now for the whole world to join efforts towards the solution that will bring peace to the Middle East: that is a two-states solution," Prime Minister Robert Golob told journalists. During his news conference a Palestinian flag was hoisted alongside the Slovenian and EU flags on the front of the prime minister's office in the capital.
The conservative opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) opposes the recognition, saying Slovenia should remain with the majority of EU states that have decided now is not the right time. "We are aware of who is leading Palestine and it is clear that with the recognition Robert Golob's government is stepping to the wrong side of history," SDS lawmaker Milan Zver told the Delo newspaper on Thursday.