Thus MPs endorsed the proposal by the parliamentary Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning Committee that referendum proceedings start on 6 July and the vote itself be held on 24 September.

The "Taxpayers Standing Our Ground" initiative, which opposes the government plan and has collected voter signatures in support of the referendum, wanted the vote to take place on the same day as the presidential election. The election has not been called yet.

Unhappy with the date, Vili Kovačič, the head of the initiative, announced he would seek constitutional review of the decision.

According to him, the initiative will file a request for a temporary suspension of the decision with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.

Infrastructure Minister Peter Gašperšič said in the debate ahead of today's vote that the ministry and the government respected the will of the citizens who backed the referendum on the Koper-Divača expansion.

However, the referendum should be carried out as soon as possible so that the government can focus on executing the project, he added. This position was backed by the government in today's correspondence session before the National Assembly met for the session.

According to the minister, the government set up a clear financing plan with the investment valued at less than EUR 1bn. The government secured all the required consensuses and everything is ready to start constructing the second rail track, he added.

During the debate, the coalition and the opposition did not budge from their positions with regards to the government plan as well as the date of the referendum.

Igor Zorčič, an MP for the ruling Modern Centre Party (SMC), noted that the expansion had become a constant in parliamentary debates. All parties claim they support the second rail track, but their actions have not been compatible, he said.

The coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and Social Democrats (SD) reiterated the need to carry out the vote on the rail upgrade as soon as possible.

The opposition Democratic Party (SDS) did not back the proposal for the vote to be held on 24 September but proposed 12 November instead.

SDS MP Ljubo Žnidar whose party helped collect the required signatures for the referendum, expressed annoyance that voters would have to deal with a technical matter such as the railway expansion. "This is a clear sign that politicians took the matter in their own hands instead of leaving it to professionals," he said.

Žnidar also took issue with the 2TDK company, established specially to manage the project. If Slovenia established a company for every 27 kilometres of rail tracks, there would be 60 such companies now, he illustrated.

Other opposition parties also argued against the proposal, invoking the civil initiative's claims that money would be saved if the two votes were held on the same day.

Matej T. Vatovec, an MP for the Left, wondered why the government cut costs in all fields but it was not willing to save the EUR 3m for the referendum.

New Slovenia (NSi) MP Zvonko Lah said that his party wanted the railway expansion to get underway as soon as possible, but not in the way the government had proposed. According to him, the government law should be annulled and better alternatives sought.

Bojan Dobovšek of the group of unaffiliated MPs, which opposes the government plan, added that the money saved by holding the referendum and the presidential election on the same day, could be used for other projects.