Slovenia drops plans to buy 45 Boxer APCs

The government's decision follows an internal audit by the defence ministry which showed that the procurement procedures were not fully effective, while a feasibility study for the acquisition of alternative armoured personnel carriers was not completed, it said in a statement last week.

Slovenia's parliament ratified an agreement for the purchase of the vehicles in February. The ratification was suspended in December, when The Left political party proposed to hold a referendum on the acquisition of the APCs but failed to win enough support among members of parliament for its proposal.

According to the Slovenian government, the termination of the agreement would not cause additional costs, as the country is not a member of OCCAR.

The Boxer is an 8x8 all-terrain heavily-armoured utility vehicle manufactured in nine variants by German company Artec.

OCCAR is an international organisation whose core business is the management of cooperative defence equipment programmes. Its current member states are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

($ = 1.0034 euro)