JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister Jernej Vrtovec told Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan that Samaria should be under Israeli sovereignty, after the two met in Ljubljana on the same day Britain announced new sanctions targeting Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

At the close of the meeting, Vrtovec pinned a Samaria badge presented by Dagan and said Slovenia stood in “great solidarity” with the region.

“Regarding your efforts in Samaria, we express great solidarity with your country, and we would like to say that we support Samaria being under sovereignty,” Vrtovec said, according to remarks released by the Samaria Council.

Vrtovec, who also serves as Slovenia’s transportation and energy minister, said Slovenia and Israel are friendly nations that should deepen ties under the country’s new conservative government.

“We share common values, we must defend those values, and I am certain that together we will achieve this,” he said. He also said a delegation from Slovenia’s NSi party and ministry representatives hoped to visit Israel, including Samaria, as soon as December.

Dagan thanked Vrtovec and Prime Minister Janez Janša for what he called Slovenia’s “courageous and just” veto of a European Union effort to impose sanctions on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

“Judea and Samaria are the defensive shield of the State of Israel and are of strategic importance to the security of the entire Western world,” Dagan said. “Israel is the front line, the forward position defending Europe.”

He added that Jews should not be punished “simply because they live in the heart of the Land of Israel.”

The meeting came about two weeks after Janša blocked an EU statement targeting Israeli activity in the region. Dagan has previously met Janša in Ljubljana as Slovenia reversed earlier restrictions on Israel and adopted a more supportive line toward Jerusalem.

Britain on Tuesday announced an import ban on goods from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, along with additional penalties aimed at settlement activity. France and Canada said they would take similar steps. Israeli officials condemned the British measures as political interference.

Dagan said the contrast was clear: while some European governments were moving to isolate Jewish communities, Slovenia was signaling support for Israeli control of Samaria.

“Israel is Europe’s line of defense,” he said.