Slovenia the 12th EU country to recognise the State of Palestine

Brussels – “A message of hope” to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza: With these words written on his X account, Slovenia’s Prime Minister, Robert Golob, commented on the Ljubljana Parliament’s green light to the government’s proposal to recognise Palestine. Slovenia thus becomes the 12th EU country to recognise the Palestinian state.

Yesterday evening (June 4), the National Assembly meeting in extraordinary session approved by 50 votes to none (the remaining 40 deputies left the chamber) the proposal of the progressive government led by Golob. Ljubljana’s Parliament Speaker, Natasa Pirc Musar, declared that Slovenia, from now on, will be able to “even more credibly help the Palestinian people on their difficult path to true independence and equality in the international community.”

Slovenia joins the member states formally recognising Palestine: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Spain, and Ireland. Of these, only Sweden, Spain, and Ireland have implemented the recognition while they were EU countries. The war between Israel and Hamas and the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza have restored momentum to the Palestinian issue and the need to take concrete steps toward a Two-State solution. After Madrid and Dublin, Ljubljana is the third EU country to announce the recognition of the State of Palestine in a few weeks.

However, the number of member states recognising Ramallah is still decidedly low compared to the member countries of the UN: 145 out of 193, more than three-quarters. Among the 27 European countries, they are less than half.