Extraordinary parliamentary session on Palestine canceled

Foreign Policy Committee session also failed to meet quorum

6. april 2018 ob 22.29 • Ljubljana - MMC RTV SLO

On Friday morning, the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee resumed a session at which it was expected to adopt a position on Palestine. However, only 7 of the 17 committee members were present for the session – two short of the required quorum. Foto: BoBo/Borut Živulović

Friday's extraordinary session at which Parliament was expected to discuss a proposal to recognize Palestine was canceled after five MPs that demanded the session withdrew their signatures. Foreign Policy Committee chairman Jožef Horvat (NSi) said at his party's press conference that he received death threats because he allegedly obstructed the recognition of Palestine.

Horvat said he received an anonymous email accusing him of obstructing the recognition of Palestine. The email also contained a death threat. He said he forwarded the email to the police, who said that the threats were serious. Horvat also stressed that he wasn't responsible for what happened and that he didn't obstruct the recognition of Palestine.

Five SMC MPs withdraw their signatures
Five SMC MPs on Friday told Parliamentary Speaker Milan Brglez that they decided to withdraw their signatures. The extraordinary session was then canceled, since the support of at least one quarter of MPs is required to call an extraordinary session. It was the opposition Left who demanded the session after they garnered the support of 25 MPs.

Foreign Policy Committee fails to meet quorum
On Friday morning, the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee resumed a session suspended on Thursday at which it was expected to adopt a position on Palestine. However, only 7 of the 17 committee members were present for the session, which was two short of the required quorum.

Erjavec regrets "legal acrobatics"
Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said on Friday that he regretted the "legal acrobatics" Parliament engaged in, stressing that there simply wasn't enough political will to recognize Palestine as an independent state. "The Foreign Ministry did everything in its power to pave the way for the recognition of Palestine. The problem is that there isn't enough political will, especially from the coalition SMC. The Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), the Social Democrats (SD), the Left, and some SMC MPs support the recognition of Palestine. Had all SMC MPs supported the recognition, Slovenia would already have recognized Palestine as a state," Erjavec said. He put the blame for the situation on Miro Cerar, who stepped down as Prime Minister in mid-March. Erjavec said that after Cerar's resignation, the Palestine question was put on the backburner.