Slovenia’s parliament on Friday voted to bring back former nationalist premier Janez Jansa, electing him as prime minister once more in a move that could tilt the EU country away from Brussels.

Jansa — an admirer of US President Donald Trump and a supporter of Israel — was a three-time premier who had frequent run-ins with the European Union during his last stint in power, which ended in 2022.

But this week, he struck a coalition agreement to form a new government, after outgoing liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob failed to clinch a deal following parliamentary elections in March.

On Friday, 51 members of parliament voted to return Jansa to power while 36 voted against, according to results announced by the parliamentary speaker.

“The development and wealth of Slovenia are the top priorities of this coalition,” Jansa told parliament when presenting his candidature.

Golob, who came to power in 2022 on a wave of protests against Jansa’s crackdown on civil liberties, announced last month he could not form a government.

Golob’s government recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024, becoming one of the few EU countries to claim Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza was a “genocide,” a claim that Israel has strongly rejected.

Slovenian public broadcaster RTV was also the first in Europe to demand Israel’s exclusion from the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest and boycotted it in 2026, citing the ongoing war in Gaza.

Golob’s administration also banned imports from Jewish settlements in the West Bank in 2025, only a week after prohibiting all weapons trade with Israel, the first EU member to do so. That ruling followed on the heels of another one declaring National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance........

© The Times of Israel