Slovenia is preparing a referendum on withdrawal from the bloc as Trump’s threats deepen internal divisions
FILE PHOTO. Slovenian flag displayed on a smartphone with a NATO flag in the background. © Getty Images / Igor Golovniov; SOPA Images; LightRocket
Slovenia’s
newly elected parliament speaker has announced plans to hold a
referendum on withdrawing the country from NATO, as the US‑led military
bloc reels from its worst internal crisis in decades with Washington
threatening to pull out from the organization entirely.
The leader
of the Truth Party, Zoran Stevanovic, was elected as the head of the
lower house last week. Speaking to public broadcaster RTVSLO, he stated
that a vote on leaving the bloc was a campaign promise he intends to
keep.
“We promised the people a referendum on the issue of leaving NATO, and we will hold this referendum,” Stevanovic said.
The speaker also signaled a possible visit to Moscow “in the near future,” stating he would like to “build bridges and cooperate well with all countries, regardless of the wall that has been built between the West and the East.”
The
push for a NATO exit vote comes as the 32‑member bloc has started to
crack over US President Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw support after
European members refused to join the US‑Israeli war on Iran.
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at European partners, calling them “cowards” and the bloc a “paper tiger,” stating that US membership in NATO is “beyond reconsideration.” His continued threats to annex Greenland from fellow member state Denmark have further escalated tensions within the bloc.
Former
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed that Trump’s
threats to withdraw from the bloc need to be taken seriously, adding
that it is “not the law of nature that we have NATO forever” or that it will “survive the next ten years.”
The divisions have prompted the European nations to quietly accelerate work on a “European NATO”
contingency plan. According to a Wall Street Journal report, officials
have been informally drawing up plans to continue operating on the
continent using the bloc’s existing military structures in the event
that the US reduces its role or withdraws entirely.
In Moscow, Russian Security Council Deputy Chair Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the EU itself quickly morphed into a “full‑fledged military component,” it would be “in some ways worse than NATO,”
arguing that Brussels has been inflating Russophobic hysteria to
justify a large-scale military buildup in preparation for a possible war
with Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also
speculated that US threats to withdraw from NATO could be intended to
shift the primary responsibility for “containing Russia” to Europe in order to free up Washington’s own hands in the “Chinese direction.”
Moscow
has repeatedly denied any intention to attack NATO or EU countries,
arguing that such claims are being used to justify massive investments
in arms amid faltering economic growth.