LJUBLJANA: The parliament of Slovenia has passed a decree recognizing a Palestinian state, Western media reported on Wednesday.
Fifty-two members of the 90-member parliament voted in favour of the government-sponsored resolution to recognize a Palestinian state.
The vote comes after a similar move by three other European countries last week in response to the devastating Gaza war.
The Slovenian opposition boycotted the voting process except for one lawmaker who attended but abstained.
The government sent the decree on recognising a Palestine state for the approval of the parliament last Thursday as part of efforts to end the war in Gaza as early as possible.
The conservative opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) led by former prime minister Janez Jansa on Monday filed a proposal to put the referendum on hold on the recognition.
It viewed Slovenia must remain with the majority of European Union (EU) member states that have decided that now is not the right time for such a measure.
By filing the motion, the SDS had wanted to delay the vote on the recognition since the law sets a 30-day deadline before lawmakers can vote on a disputed bill.
Speaker of the Parliament Urska Klakocar Zupancic said the opposition had abused the referendum and announced that parliament would proceed with the voting process as planned.
She referred to legal interpretations, according to which the 30-day deadline is being set only to bills rather than to decrees such as one recognizing a foreign state.
Earlier, Spain, Ireland and Norway had recognized a Palestinian state, bringing to 145 the number of the United Nations’ 193 member states that have recognized the statehood.
With the decree, Slovenia recognizes the Palestinian state within the territories set by a 1967 United Nations resolution.
