STA, 21 February 2019 - The government has decided against sealing a EUR 306m deal to acquire 48 eight-wheeled Boxer armoured personnel carriers from the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR), Slovenia's biggest defence purchase in a decade.

The army does not have a comprehensive tactical study showing exactly what capabilities Slovenia needs and the procurement documentation is based on a tactical study made in 2005 that does not represent an appropriate basis for the purchase, Defence Minister Karl Erjavec said after the government session on Thursday.

The minister ordered the army to carry out a new tactical study that will determine whether it needs new eight-wheeled personnel carriers, which vehicles would be best, how they will be maintained, and how staff will be trained.

Erjavec said this did not mean that the purchase has been terminated. "We will have to buy eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers sooner rather than later, but first we need to define exactly what we need."

The decision was expected given weeks of rumours about there being something wrong with the proposed deal, most recently expressed by Prime Minister Marjan Šarec in an interview with Večer last weekend. He said his government "did not want to embark on an adventure, we had certain indications things are not acceptable."

But it casts doubt on the country's ability to meet the pledge given to NATO that it will have one battlegroup ready by 2022 and a second one by 2025.

Erjavec was sanguine about that, noting that it was already clear the first battlegroup will not be ready by 2022. "Even if we signed the purchase agreement today, we would not be able to do everything," he said. The effort would be hampered not just by long delivery times but also by staff shortages and lack of investments.

The planned purchase is being closely watched in Slovenia given the parallels to the previous mega defence deal, the 2006 contract with Patria on the purchase of 135 infantry vehicles at that time worth EUR 278m.

The Patria deal, signed the first time Erjavec was defence minister, devolved into years of court drama involving senior politicians.

Erjavec repeated today that the mid-term defence programme and the white paper on defence would be revised. Pointing to Slovenia's commitments to NATO about increasing defence spending, he said the 2020/21 budget would be "the moment of truth."

"I expect that in 2019, 1.1% of GDP will be allocated to defence, 1.2% in 2020, 1.3% in 2021, 1.4% in 2023 and 1.5% in 2024. These are the commitments that were made orally for now when NATO secretary general visited the country last year," Erjavec said.

Today's government decision on cancelling the EUR 306m deal was welcomed by the opposition Left. "After two years of opposition (to the purchase) we have finally managed to persuade the government that the purchase of the eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers did not make sense," said MP Miha Kordiš.

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STA, 20 February 2019 - Slovenian President Borut Pahor underscored the need to invest in security as he visited NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg repeated his call for an increase in defence spending.

"Slovenia is increasing defence spending not because it would face a direct military threat, but because the world is less safe a place today, and also because [Slovenia] is part of the western world. Like fifteen years ago, I continue to believe today it's important we understand this," said Pahor.

Slovenia joined NATO and the EU in 2004 and Pahor said his latest visit to NATO was also important symbolically considering the 15th anniversary of the country's membership of the two organisations.

Pahor argued that in compliance with the alliance's defence targets was not about meeting the country's obligations to NATO but rather about its own security; Slovenia must invest in security, he said.

The president said it was understandable for NATO to expect of Slovenia to meet the target of increasing defence spending to 2% of GDP by 2024.

He told Stoltenberg that Slovenia was planning to increase defence budget to 1.5% of GDP by 2024, which he said was a substantial increase considering the strong economic growth.

Stoltenberg lauded Slovenia as a valuable ally which he said contributed to common security and defence in many ways and played an important role in the Western Balkans, in particular in the KFOR mission in Kosovo and in the efforts to bring the countries in the region closer to the EU and NATO.

He also noted Slovenia's participation in the Afghanistan mission, in the battalion in Latvia and in the Trident Juncture exercise.

He again welcomed the fact that after years of decline Slovenia started increasing defence spending, which was substantial in absolute terms considering the economic growth, but he also repeated that he would want the country to make more effort.

Asked for comment about the Slovenian Armed Forces' poor readiness assessments, Stoltenberg repeated that NATO appreciated Slovenia's contribution in the allied missions and operations.

He said that he had met Slovenian soldiers and was able to see their commitment and professionalism, in particular in their key role in Kosovo.

He acknowledged that there had been some readiness issues in the past, but said the very reason of NATO testing the forces to be deployed in its missions and operations was to recognise the problems so they could be dealt with.

This is what Slovenia has done, the readiness problem was addressed, Slovenian troops took part in Trident Juncture, which is a very demanding exercise, and did excellently, said Stoltenberg.

The Western Balkans ranked high on the agenda with Pahor noting the significance of NATO's and the EU's enlargement to countries in the region. He said NATO was doing much better in that respect than the EU having admitted Montenegro with enlargement to North Macedonia due soon.

Pahor, the supreme commender of the Slovenian Armed Forces, noted that he was the first president to visit NATO headquarters last year, which he would want to become a tradition.

STA, 17 February 2019 - Seven Slovenian companies and two institutions are featured at the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX), a biennial arms and defence technology sales exhibition, which is opening in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday.

The Slovenian defence industry is being showcased at what is the main defence and security exhibition and conference in the Middle East and North Africa under the sponsorship of the SPIRIT investment promotion agency.

The fair, which will run until 21 February, has been held biennially since 1993 to present the latest products in the field of arms and military technology for land forces, air forces, anti-aircraft warfare and naval forces.

In 2017, it saw 1,235 exhibitors from 172 countries, and featured 39 national pavilions. It was visited by more than 100,000 people from 142 countries, SPIRIT said.

The joint Slovenian exhibition area is featuring ammunition and soldier equipment maker Arex, armoured vehicle producer Armas, unmanned aerial vehicle maker C - Astral, measuring equipment producer Dat - Con, protective equipment maker Prevent & Deloza, weapon systems maker Valhalla Turrets and Timtec.

They will be joined by the Slovenian Defence Industry Cluster and the Defence Ministry.

IDEX is one of the twelve international fairs at which the agency provides support for selected Slovenian exhibitors this year.

STA, 14 February 2019 - Defence Minister Karl Erjavec expects Slovenia to increase defence spending in 2020 and 2021. "A step forward has been made, but I have high expectations when it comes to the budget for 2020 and 2021. That one will define how serious we are about modernising the Slovenian Armed Forces," he said in Brussels on Thursday.

Erjavec made the comments after a two-day NATO ministerial discussing the implementation of three key goals: for the allies to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP by 2024, to allocate 20% of their defence budgets for capability development, and to increase their contributions to missions and operations.

The plan submitted by Slovenia to NATO does not project defence expenditure increase to 2% of GDP by 2024. Unofficial information has it that the target will also not be met by Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and Spain.

Slovenia's defence expenditure for this year is planned at 1.1% of GDP; the figure is currently at 1.05%. It is to increase to 1.5% by 2024, Erjavec noted, adding that this was the promise made to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as he visited Ljubljana last year.

Erjavec is satisfied to have achieved a step forward in raising defence spending in a minority government whose partner in the opposition doe not favour such an increase, but he is aware the increase is not ideal. So he expects much from the budget for 2020 and 2021.

When it comes to the defence budget's structure, Slovenia currently allocates 4.5% of its defence budget for investment, a far cry from the 20% target.

Erjaves said it was important to increase the spending, but even more important to boost defence capabilities in order to be more resilient to new security challenges, and to buy dual-use equipment. He mentioned the planned purchase of helicopters that would also be used for emergency aid.

He said that the pay rise deal agreed with public sector trade unions also affected the defence budget "slowing down our desire to earmark more defence expenditure for investment".

He expects the mid-term defence plan to provide more detailed answers, but he did mention plans for procurement of troop equipment and for enhancing investment in military infrastructure, outdated army barracks and training grounds, as well as investing in making the army profession more attractive.

Commenting on delays in the procurement of eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers, the minister said that the case had been put off and that he would like for a tactical study to be conducted to respond to questions as to how build a battalion-size battlegroup.

Erjavec also commented on Chief of the General Staff Alenka Ermenc's comment yesterday that the increase in funding in the supplementary budget for the year would not allow for the army's development breakthrough or for marked improvement in its readiness.

Erjavec said the army's readiness assessment for wartime action for 2018 would likely be negative again, because it could not be otherwise as things did not change overnight.

The supplementary budget itself was not any major step in modernising the force but without the extra EUR 40m for salaries this would have undermined the budget funds for material costs, which should not happened, he said.

When it comes to the implementation of NATO's mission and operations contribution target, Slovenia ranks among the top seven allied countries.

The international relations worries that keep the country awake at night. 

STA, 9 October 2018 - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg paid a working visit to Slovenia on Tuesday to meet PM Marjan Šarec, President Borut Pahor and address the National Assembly. He expressed the expectation that the country would increase its defence spending, with Šarec saying Slovenia would strive to allocate 1.5% of GDP to defence in "a few years’ time". 

STA, 5 October 2018 - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed Slovenia's increase in defence spending in real terms in a correspondence interview with the STA ahead of his visit on Tuesday. "But we expect Slovenia to do more to meet the target that we all agreed." 

STA, 11 July 2018 - Outgoing Prime Minister Miro Cerar said as he arrived for the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday that the new government would need to have an even more ambitious approach regarding the commitments to increase defence spending. 

STA, 2 July - The government adopted at Monday's correspondence session a decision raising defence spending in 2018 to one percent of Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP), tasking the Ministry of Finance to implement the decision by 29 September. 

STA, 8 June 2018 - Slovenia's Ambassador to NATO Jelko Kacin has called for an increase in defence spending which he said Slovenia needs urgently and can also afford. He expects the new government to address the issue.