WARSAW, Poland — In a political U-turn, Slovenia’s authorities have scrapped a referendum initiative on the country’s plans to increase its defense spending to 3% of its GDP by 2030.

The development comes as Ljubljana is negotiating the largest military procurement in the nation’s history, eyeing some 106 AMV XP vehicles from Finland’s Patria for an estimated €695 million ($592 million).

On July 18, the National Assembly, the lower chamber of Slovenia’s parliament, voted to cancel the proposed consultative referendum. Earlier this month, lawmakers approved the ballot initiative after it was proposed by a minor left-wing party that is part of the government.

However, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, whose liberal party is the cabinet’s largest force, has opposed the referendum on the grounds that the country vowed to gradually increase its defense expenditure as part of its commitment to NATO.

The “referendum question passed in the National Assembly … is ambiguous as well as misleading,” Golob was quoted in a statement released by his government.

At the same time, Ljubljana is holding talks to acquire new eight-wheel-drive vehicles for its land forces.

Slovenia and Finland signed a letter of intent last February. To place an order, the Slovenian government had pulled out of a 2022 deal to buy 45 Boxer armored vehicles from the intergovernmental Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR).

On July 22, the country’s Ministry of Defence told state-run news agency STA the country has fully withdrawn from the Boxer contract.

Under the country’s commitments to NATO, Slovenia is to form the first battalion battle group by 2027, and the second one by 2030, equipping them with new armored vehicles.