The Democratic Party of Slovenia, led by former conservative Prime Minister Janez Janša, submitted a motion on Monday calling for a referendum on the Palestine recognition decree.
The proposal is scheduled to be discussed only on June 17, and in case of rejection, as expected, the recognition process can be resumed after 30 days, according to legislative rules.
But Parliament Speaker Orska Klakocar Zupancic considered, on Tuesday, that the opposition “misused the referendum mechanism” and that the 30-day deadline only applies to draft laws and not to decrees.
In a chaotic six-hour session, Jansa accused the ruling centre-left coalition of “violating procedures” and left the hall with his party's deputies.
Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz urged Slovenian lawmakers to vote against recognizing Palestine as a state, saying approval would be a “reward” for the Islamist Hamas movement.
After a joint initiative by Spain, Ireland and Norway, 145 of the 193 countries in the United Nations recognized Palestine, a list from which most Western European and North American countries, as well as Australia, Japan and South Korea, were absent.
