Slovenia scraps defense-spending vote, seeks new kit with eye on NATO

WARSAW, Poland — In a political U-turn, Slovenia’s authorities have scrapped a referendum initiative on the country’s plans to increase its defense spending to 3% of its GDP by 2030.

The development comes as Ljubljana is negotiating the largest military procurement in the nation’s history, eyeing some 106 AMV XP vehicles from Finland’s Patria for an estimated €695 million ($592 million).

On July 18, the National Assembly, the lower chamber of Slovenia’s parliament, voted to cancel the proposed consultative referendum. Earlier this month, lawmakers approved the ballot initiative after it was proposed by a minor left-wing party that is part of the government.

However, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, whose liberal party is the cabinet’s largest force, has opposed the referendum on the grounds that the country vowed to gradually increase its defense expenditure as part of its commitment to NATO.

The “referendum question passed in the National Assembly … is ambiguous as well as misleading,” Golob was quoted in a statement released by his government.

At the same time, Ljubljana is holding talks to acquire new eight-wheel-drive vehicles for its land forces.

Slovenia and Finland signed a letter of intent last February. To place an order, the Slovenian government had pulled out of a 2022 deal to buy 45 Boxer armored vehicles from the intergovernmental Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR).

On July 22, the country’s Ministry of Defence told state-run news agency STA the country has fully withdrawn from the Boxer contract.

Under the country’s commitments to NATO, Slovenia is to form the first battalion battle group by 2027, and the second one by 2030, equipping them with new armored vehicles.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——斯洛文尼亚当局在政治上来了个180度大转弯，取消了一项关于该国计划到2030年将国防开支提高到GDP 3%的全民公投提案。

卢布尔雅那正在就该国历史上规模最大的军事采购进行谈判，计划从芬兰 Patria 公司采购约 106 辆 AMV XP 车辆，预计价值 6.95 亿欧元（5.92 亿美元）。

7月18日，斯洛文尼亚议会下院国民议会投票决定取消原定的咨询性全民公投。本月初，该公投提案由执政联盟中的一个左翼小党提出，并获得议员批准。

然而，斯洛文尼亚总理罗伯特·戈洛布（其自由党是内阁中最大的力量）反对这次全民公投，理由是该国已承诺逐步增加国防开支，以履行其对北约的承诺。

戈洛布在其政府发布的一份声明中表示，“国民议会通过的全民公投问题……含糊不清，而且具有误导性”。

与此同时，卢布尔雅那正在洽谈为其陆军采购新的八轮驱动车辆。

斯洛文尼亚和芬兰于去年二月签署了一份意向书。为了下订单，斯洛文尼亚政府退出了原定于2022年从政府间联合军备合作组织（OCCAR）购买45辆“拳击手”装甲车的协议。

7月22日，该国国防部告诉国营通讯社STA，该国已完全退出“拳击手”战斗机合同。

根据斯洛文尼亚对北约的承诺，该国将在 2027 年前组建第一个营级战斗群，并在 2030 年前组建第二个营级战斗群，并为其配备新的装甲车辆。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。