Speaker of Austrian Parliament Andreas Khol confirmed the validity of the Austrian State Treaty for the protection of the Slovenian minority in Austria, mitigating tensions that he had created earlier by saying that Slovenia is not and cannot be a party to the treaty.
Slovenia and Austria are of the same opinion about the contents of the treaty. "The treaty is a fact. It is an international document that must be respected," he said after meeting counterpart France Cukjati. He added that Article 7 of the treaty, which deals with the protection of the Slovenian and Croatian minorities in Austria, is part of the Austrian constitutional order. However, he admitted that some open issues regarding its implementation remain, including on the issue of bilingual town signs. "We have some work to do in this respect," Khol added. Cukjati, meanwhile, claimed that the recent developments between the countries were wrongly comprehended by the public. He added that he was pleased with the assurance given by Khol about the validity of Article 7. In talks with President Janez Drnovsek, he said that Austria was committed to respect the document. Drnovsek meanwhile said that the two countries had managed to resolve a number of open issues in the past and expressed the expectation to find a comprehensive resolution to the situation of the Slovenian minority in Austria.
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