{"id":11547,"date":"2025-07-15T13:08:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=11547"},"modified":"2025-08-31T13:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T12:14:32","slug":"ruling-party-proposes-it-but-slovenia-has-not-yet-called-a-referendum-on-leaving-nato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/07\/15\/ruling-party-proposes-it-but-slovenia-has-not-yet-called-a-referendum-on-leaving-nato\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruling Party Proposes It, but Slovenia Has Not Yet Called a Referendum on Leaving NATO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Original article<\/a> (in Croatian) was published on 10\/7\/2025; Author: Anja Vladisavljevi\u0107<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Slovenian Prime Minister\u2019s party has floated the idea, but no official referendum initiative has been launched.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A viral claim circulating on social media suggests that Slovenia has officially called a referendum to leave NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs Slovenia leaving NATO? Referendum announced! Support to Slovenians in rejecting the globalist military alliance,\u201d reads a Facebook post dated July 6, 2025 (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The post was widely shared across the region, accompanied by celebratory reactions and anti-globalist commentary. But despite the excitement among some users, the reality is quite different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It Was a Political Announcement<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On July 4, Slovenia\u2019s ruling party, the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) \u2013 led by Prime Minister Robert Golob<\/strong> \u2013 announced<\/a> its intention to propose an advisory referendum on Slovenia\u2019s NATO membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This announcement followed the Slovenian National Assembly\u2019s vote in favor of holding a consultative referendum on increasing the country\u2019s defense spending, in line with NATO commitments. The proposal was supported not only by Golob\u2019s coalition partners\u2014the Left (Levica) and the Social Democrats (SD) \u2013 but also by opposition parties New Slovenia (NSi) and the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All MPs from the ruling Freedom Movement voted against that referendum. In response, the party announced plans to initiate a separate referendum \u2013 this time on NATO membership itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are only two options: either we remain in the alliance and pay the dues, or we leave. Everything else is political deception,\u201d Golob wrote on X (formerly Twitter), criticizing the current referendum initiative as \u201cnonsensical\u201d and \u201cpushed through by a coalition of SDS, NSi, and SD.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stated that the Freedom Movement would propose their own referendum to \u201cremove any doubt about the true will of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political Tensions and No Formal Submission Yet<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Following the announcement, Slovenian President Nata\u0161a Pirc Musar<\/strong> urged<\/a> all sides to act responsibly. She called for political calm and open dialogue to avoid international embarrassment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of the time of writing, no official referendum proposal has been submitted to the National Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposal is expected in the coming days,\u201d reported public broadcaster MMC on July 7<\/a>. However, legal experts are questioning whether such a referendum on NATO membership is even feasible \u2013 and whether it would gain sufficient support in parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaders of smaller coalition parties, SD and Levica, have publicly expressed support for the idea of a NATO membership referendum. Nevertheless, tensions within the ruling coalition are rising. Over the weekend, members of the coalition engaged in online disputes, with speculation<\/a> of a possible coalition breakup \u2013 though party representatives have denied any rift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition parties have also responded. Former Prime Minister and SDS leader Janez Jan\u0161a<\/strong> dismissed the proposal as meaningless, arguing that a two-thirds majority in parliament would likely be required to leave NATO \u2013 something the ruling coalition does not have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to MMC\u2019s July 9 report<\/a>, Prime Minister Golob has begun consultations with constitutional law experts. These experts have clarified that a referendum on international relations, unlike an advisory referendum, would be legally binding. This distinction could have major implications for the referendum’s form and impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO Membership and the Legal Framework<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

NATO<\/a> is a military and political alliance of 32 countries across Europe and North America, established in 1949 through the North Atlantic Treaty. Article 13<\/a> of the treaty allows any member to withdraw one year after notifying the United States government, which then informs the other members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slovenia joined<\/a> NATO on March 29, 2004, during the alliance\u2019s largest enlargement, alongside Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public dissatisfaction<\/a> with NATO in Slovenia has reportedly grown since the alliance’s June 2025 summit in The Hague, where member states agreed to increase military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Slovenia has yet to meet the previous target of 2% by 2024, though it has pledged to do so by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If pursued, the proposed referendum by the Freedom Movement would be consultative \u2013 meaning it would allow voters to express their opinion but would not be binding on the government or parliament (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Slovenia joined NATO and the EU, we established the constitutional mechanism for a binding referendum on such matters. So, even if a non-binding referendum results in a vote against NATO, any actual withdrawal would still require a two-thirds majority in parliament \u2013 which is currently unrealistic,\u201d explained former Prime Minister and legal scholar Miro Cerar<\/strong> in an interview with Radio Slovenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, the claim that Slovenia has called a referendum on NATO membership is false. While the ruling party has announced plans to propose such a referendum, no official initiative has been submitted to the parliament. Prime Minister Golob is currently consulting legal experts and coalition partners to evaluate the feasibility of moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article (in Croatian) was published on 10\/7\/2025; Author: Anja Vladisavljevi\u0107 Slovenian Prime Minister\u2019s party has floated the idea, but no official referendum initiative has been launched. A viral claim circulating on social media suggests that Slovenia has officially called a referendum to leave NATO. \u201cIs Slovenia leaving NATO? Referendum announced! Support to Slovenians in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[29,44,34],"class_list":["post-11547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-croatia","tag-nato","tag-slovenia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11550,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11547\/revisions\/11550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}