Slovenia to back Palestine's UN membership
A Palestinian flag at the UN headquarters in New York. Photo: Xinhua/STA
Slovenia has announced it will support a resolution on Palestine's membership of the United Nations in a vote at the UN Security Council next week, along with France and Malta.
"Slovenia, together with France and Malta, will raise its hand in support of this resolution, in which it sincerely believes," Vojko Volk, a state secretary at the prime minister's office, told reporters after a government session on 11 April.
"We believe that Palestine belongs in the UN and that it has the right to have its voice heard there," the official said.
The resolution is a form of pressure meant to raise awareness of the urgency of ending the killing in Gaza, he said about the multilateral attempt for Palestine, an associate member of the UN, to become a member state.
A veto is still possible in the Security Council, but in that case the decision-making process will move to the General Assembly, Volk said.
The Palestinian application for UN membership was discussed by the Security Council earlier this week, before it was referred to its standing Committee on the Admission of New Members.
The General Assembly can accept new members with a two-thirds majority based on a recommendation by the Security Council, where the initiative needs to be backed by at least 9 out of 15 countries with none of the five members who have the right to a veto opposing it.
The last veto was filed in 1976, when the US opposed Vietnam's membership application.
In 2011, Palestine did not get enough support, as the US voted against.
At the end of March, Slovenia, Spain, Ireland and Malta announced their willingness to recognise Palestine as an independent country when the circumstances are right.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due in Slovenia next week as part of a European tour aimed at rallying support for the recognition of the state of Palestine.
