LETTER TO ITALY'S PRESIDENT CIAMPI

Ljubljana, 12 September 2001


The President of the Republic, Milan Kucan, despatched a letter to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi supporting the request of the inhabitants of Jeremitisce for an audience with President Ciampi. The President also informed his counterpart on the substance of recent talks held with the people of Jeremitisce in Nova Gorica.

The intervention based on municipal plans from a different geopolitical time and situation is changing the demographic and national structure of the area to the detriment of the indigenous Slovenian minority, writes President Kucan, adding that the inhabitants of Jeremitisce are resorting to all forms of legal recourse, having already turned to Italy's highest authorities with a special missive, which however remained without reply.

President Kucan also informed President Ciampi of his meeting with representatives of the Slovenian community in Italy and of their problems with regard to the implementation of the Act on the protection of the Slovenian minority, expressing his conviction that President Ciampi would be able to find time for them, too. President Kucan once again thanked President Ciampi for his personal support for the adoption of the Act on the protection of the Slovenian minority, which acknowledges Slovenians' collective rights thus recognising them as loyal Italian citizens.