President of the Republic receives members of SLOMAK (the Coordination of Slovenian Minorities)

Ljubljana, 28.1.2008  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, received members of the Coordination of Slovenian Minorities (SLOMAK) who acquainted him with the purpose of establishing SLOMAK and with the experience gained during its four-year operation. They emphasised the need for increased care for the preservation of the Slovenian language, for the development of culture and for stronger economic penetration of areas in neighbouring countries where Slovenian minorities live and work. They particularly emphasised the need for an analysis to be made of the situation and for a development strategy to be drawn up, prepared jointly by the Slovenian Institute for Ethnic Studies, the Slovene Research Institute in Trieste and the Slovene Scientific Institute in Klagenfurt.

The President of the Republic welcomed the common stand taken by the representatives of Slovenian minorities in the neighbouring countries and pointed out that it is necessary to make a comprehensive analysis and to take an approach adjusted to contemporary circumstances, irrespective of the problems encountered by individual minorities in their particular environments. The President supported the innovations in individual fields and cited the European office in Trieste, which has recorded some success in acquiring European funding, as a positive example.

The representatives of the Slovenian Minority Coordination expressed a wish to see increased media coverage of events related to minorities. In their opinion, the media image of the minorities is characterised more by its problems than by its successes or positive projects.

Dr Türk then highlighted the need for specific actions which would incorporate the Slovenian minorities into the Slovenian cultural and economic environment under the new circumstances of European integration.