NATO Member Preparing to Hold Exit Vote

(SeaPRwire) –   Slovenia is preparing to hold a referendum on withdrawing from the alliance as Trump’s threats deepen internal divisions within the bloc

Slovenia’s newly elected speaker of parliament has announced plans to stage a referendum on withdrawing the nation from NATO, as the U.S.-led military alliance grapples with its most severe internal crisis in decades, with Washington threatening to fully exit the organization.

Zoran Stevanovic, head of the Truth Party, was elected as the leader of the lower parliamentary chamber last week. During an interview with public broadcaster RTVSLO, he noted that holding a vote to leave the alliance was a campaign pledge he plans to fulfill.

“We made a promise to the public to hold a referendum on leaving NATO, and we will go ahead with this vote,” Stevanovic stated.

The speaker also hinted at a potential trip to Moscow “in the near future,” adding that he wants to “build bridges and foster strong cooperation with all nations, despite the divide that has emerged between the West and the East.”

The push to hold a NATO withdrawal vote comes as the 32-member alliance has begun to fracture over U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to pull support, following European nations’ refusal to take part in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at his European allies, dubbing them “cowards” and the alliance a “paper tiger,” while asserting that U.S. membership in NATO is “no longer up for debate.” His repeated threats to seize Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark have further heightened tensions within the bloc.

Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has emphasized that Trump’s threats to leave the alliance should be taken seriously, noting that “it is not a given that NATO will last indefinitely” or that it will “survive the next decade.”

These internal rifts have pushed European countries to quietly speed up work on a “European NATO” backup plan. Per a Wall Street Journal report, officials have been informally drafting plans to keep operations running across the continent using the alliance’s existing military frameworks if the U.S. scales back its involvement or withdraws completely.

In Moscow, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has warned that if the EU were to quickly transform into a “fully fledged military entity,” it would be “in some respects worse than NATO.” He argued that Brussels has been stoking Russophobic hysteria to justify a large-scale military build-up in preparation for a potential conflict with Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also put forward the idea that U.S. threats to withdraw from NATO could be intended to pass the main duty of “containing Russia” to Europe, in order to free up Washington’s own resources for its efforts in the “Chinese direction.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied any plans to attack NATO or EU member states, noting that such allegations are being used to justify large-scale arms investments amid slowing economic growth.