Slovenia to call consultative referendum on NATO membership
"There are only two ways: either we remain in NATO and pay membership, or we leave the alliance – everything else is populist deceit of the citizens of Slovenia," Golob said, according to a government statement.
His referendum is expected to be formally tabled next week.
Golob's gambit comes as part of a damage control effort in response to a successful initiative by The Left party, a junior partner in his centre-left coalition, pushing for a consultative referendum on increasing defence expenditure.
In an unexpected outcome, Slovenian MPs approved The Left's proposal 46 to 42 on Friday. The referendum question will ask voters "whether they are in favour of Slovenia increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP annually in 2030, or approximately €2.1 billion".
Golob's liberal Freedom Movement party voted against the initiative, while his junior coalition partners – the Social Democrats and The Left – sided with the conservative opposition to back it, deepening rifts within the ruling bloc.
Discontent had been brewing since Slovenia signed up to higher NATO defence spending commitments at the NATO summit in The Hague on 24 June, which envisage members raising military expenditure to as much as 5% of GDP by 2035.
Slovenia is among the few countries that failed to meet NATO's previous 2% GDP spending target in 2024, although Ljubljana stated it aimed to hit it by the end of 2025.
Golob said his counter-referendum idea was intended to "dispel any doubt as to the true will of the people.'
Although consultative referenda in Slovenia are not legally binding, the opposition, led by conservative SDS chief Janez Janša, has called on Golob to link a vote of confidence in the government to the outcome of the plebiscite, which Golob has dismissed.
Janša, a close ally of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and a staunch Trump supporter, is said to have ambitions to return to power in parliamentary elections scheduled for 2026.
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