The parliamentary defence committee has rejected a proposal by the opposition Liberal Democracy (LDS) and Social Democrats (SD) which have called on the cabinet to reverse its decision to send a second rotation of four military instructors to Iraq because the situation there is too dangerous.
Instead, the committee unanimously decided at Friday's emergency session to urge the government to submit regular reports on the Slovenian mission and the situation in Iraq.
The emergency session, requested by the LDS and the SD on Monday, when the two parties also called on the cabinet to reconsider the presence of Slovenian soldiers in Iraq, was also attended by Defence Minister Karl Erjavec and State Secretary at the Foreign Ministry Bozo Cerar.
The two stressed that the situation in Iraq was critical, however, a certain progress has been achieved in the last six months after the first four Slovenian soldiers were sent to Iraq, especially as regards the formation of the parliament and the government.
According to the Slovenian government and coalition, there is no reason for Slovenian soldiers to withdraw from Iraq, as the country supports and actively participates in a multilateral approach to solving crises.
The opposition meanwhile pointed out that the overall security situation in the Middle East was worsening, while the war in Iraq had all the characteristics of a civil war, while the local government was unable to function.
The coalition representatives disagreed with this, claiming that the events in Iraq have also shown positive trends. They however agreed that the government should report to the parliament on the Slovenian mission in Iraq on a monthly basis, and not every three months as the parliament requested in February.
More articles from this issue:
Archive
|