Slovenian Parliament Against Referendum on Croatia

Slovenia’s Foreign Minister stressed that the ratification of the agreement which allows Croatia entry into NATO was adopted in parliament.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – The Slovene parliament’s Upper House’s Foreign Affairs Committee, comprised of 13 MPs, voted against a suggestion by Zmago Jelincic’s Slovenian National Party with ten votes against three, Slovenia’s 24ur reported. 

The parliament decides on the text about the protection of Slovenia’s interests and if it is adopted, Marjan Podobnik, president of the Zavod 25 junij party, will not, as he announced, submit the signatures of citizens who signed a petition for a referendum on Croatia’s accession into NATO. After that, the process for carrying out a referendum is started by law.

MP Darja Lavtizar-Bebler told the Delo daily she was unclear why the above mentioned text was at all necessary, but that she would vote for it to avoid a referendum.

As they proposed the referendum, Jelincic and Podobnik justified it by Croatia’s prejudging borders in the documents it submitted to NATO. Jelincic wants Croatia’s joining blocked until the border issue is resolved.

The contentious borders are those defined on June 25, 1991, which is the left bank of the Dragonja river, the left bank of the Mura river, and, of course, the Piran Bay, as well as the sea which would allow Slovenia exit out into the open sea.

At the extraordinary session, Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar stressed that the ratification of the agreement which allows Croatia entry into NATO was adopted in parliament with a large majority of votes, which clearly showed their political opinion about the ratification.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ivo Vajgl supported the foreign minister saying that approving the referendum would be counterproductive with regards to the relations between the two countries.