Jan Škoberne, a deputy of the Slovenian Social Democrats, coalition partners in the current Slovenian government, has said he is convinced that his would be one of the first countries to recognise a Catalan republic. He made the statement via his Twitter account, in reply to a news item saying that Spain is scared that Slovenia would recognise an independent Catalonia.
Later, he posted a second message in reply to some of the criticism he had received.
Škoberne is a deputy for the Social Democrats party, which has six deputies in the Slovenian Parliament and forms part of a coalition government with the Modern Centre Party and the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia. In the European Parliament they are in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, alongside parties like Spain's PSOE, Germany's SPD, France's Parti Socialiste and the UK's Labour party.