Parliament Commission Calls Austrian Minority Organisations to Unity

Ljubljana, 7 April

The parliamentary commission for Slovenians abroad has called upon the Slovenian minority in Austria to unity in asserting its interests both in relations with Austria and Slovenia.

The commission said that the two minority umbrella organisations in Austria's Carinthia must coordinate the positions to be represented at the second meeting of the conference of consensus, expected on 29 April.
The minority organisations were urged to take a common stance at the talks as the commission said this was the only way the minority could assert its interests.
MP Samo Bevk and Ivo Vajgl of the president's office stressed that the 50th anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty this year was an opportunity to solve the minority's problems and make sure that Article 7 of the Treaty, which speaks of the protection of the Slovenian minority, is implemented.
Also attending the emergency session on Thursday were the chairs of both umbrella organisations, Joze Wakounig of the National Council of Carinthian Slovenians (NSKS) and Marjan Sturm of the Association of Slovenia Organisations (ZSO).
The chair of a third minority organisation in the province of Carinthia, Bernard Sadovnik of the Association of Carinthian Slovenians (SKS), was present as well.
Both umbrella organisations would like to see the problem of the setting up of additional bilingual place name signs solved at the conference of consensus. However, the NSKS rejects the attendance of the Carinthian right-wing patriotic associations at the talks, while the ZSO is willing to attend the conference despite their presence.
The organisations also have different views on whether the issue of bilingual sign posts should be taken to the international level, which is advocated by the NSKS.
The first meeting of the second conference of consensus, called by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, took place on 13 March, yet produced no results. The first conference ended on 11 September 2002 without any conclusions.

Parliament Commission Calls Austrian Minority Organisations to Unity

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