In his introduction, Prime Minister Golob commented on the war in Ukraine. He said that the Alliance’s decisions conveyed a clear message. "There is a clear chance that the war in Ukraine is going to be protracted. So we need to adapt to that. And we have. We have to have a systemic and long-term approach and support the package that was agreed upon and that gives long-term guarantees to Ukraine that support is going to be there," he explained. 

When asked about Slovenia’s contribution to defence as a share of GDP, he replied that the Allies had a lot of understanding for our situation. "We were faced with catastrophic floods last year and that is the only reason why we somehow deviated from our trajectory. But the budget for next year has already been adopted, and we are going to reach the goal of 2%. So no trouble there," the Prime Minister assured Giokos.

Prime Minister Golob also commented on the possible change in the US leadership after the autumn election, saying that it is difficult to predict the outcome today. "NATO is definitely more than one single president. So I believe the unity of NATO, as demonstrated yesterday, is going to stay as it is. That is really the most important message that we are sending to the world – our unity."

The anchor stressed that Slovenia was a key European country to lead the charge for the recognition of a Palestinian state, asking whether leaders at the Summit had discussed this. "Apart from the military questions, which were of course dominant, there were also a couple of us raising the question that NATO was never just a military organization. It has always been both a political and military organization, meaning that in order to tackle the global challenges, we need to do more on a political and diplomatic level," he said, "And at the moment, the most important thing is that we show the world that we do not have double standards. Hence we are trying to convince others to recognize Palestine and, specifically, to put more pressure on both sides, on Hamas and Israel, to immediately cease the fire and release all the hostages, to start working on the two-state solution. This is something we do at every meeting, not just from Slovenia, from other states as well."

The Slovenian Prime Minster also spoke about his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO Summit. Giokos asked Golob about his position on President Erdoğan's statements that there is a clear difference in the way the world has responded to Ukraine versus what we have seen in Gaza. "My understanding is that NATO is somehow a guarantor of the world order based on the rule of law. And the rule of law is the same throughout the world. It applies to Ukraine, but it also applies to Palestine. And that is what the double standards are about. If we do not really implement the rule of law everywhere in the world and if we do not say that the violation of the international law in Ukraine is bad, but it is also as bad when it is violated in Palestine, then perhaps, the Arab countries have their reason to criticize the West," commented the Prime Minister.

"Peace is always better than war, but there is actually no value in peace without freedom," said Golob, adding that we therefore need to look for a just solution to conflicts based on an international set of rules. "But in order to be successful in Ukraine, we need to get support from both the Global South and the Arab countries. We need to also engage with the so-called enablers, the countries which in any way at the moment aid Russia in prolonging the war," concluded the Prime Minister.