The importance of the fact that Prekmurje was united with Slovenia after the end of WWI was neglected, as Slovenians at that time rued the (teritorial) losses in the north and west, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said in Beltinci (NE) on Friday.
Speaking at the first celebration marking the unification of Slovenia's northeasternmost region with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1919, Jansa pointed out that it was high time for staging such a celebration.
"Ever since (the unification) Slovenian politics was burdened with a certain embarrassment about Prekmurje and a justifiable guilty conscience. It was high time that such a situation ends, and a state holiday is enacted" he stressed.
He mentioned that the phrase "the Slovenian nation" appeared in Slovenian for the first time in Prekmurje and thanked the Protestant and Catholic priests for their role in raising national awareness in the region.
Jansa also stressed that in Prekmurje Slovenians managed to peacefully coexist with the Hungarians, Roma, Germans and Jews and thanked the Roma for proving that coexistence is possible despite differences in culture and way of life between them and the majority population.
However, Prekmurje has also had its share of economic injustices in the past that stretch all the way to the present, he said, mentioning the lagging behind in the construction of the transport infrastructure and the fact that profits from pumping and refining crude oil were never reinvested in the region.
He stressed that the state is well aware of its debt towards Prekmurje and intends to speed-up the construction of the motorway and the electrification of the railroad link.
He moreover pointed out the importance of normal relations with Slovenia's neighbours, promising that Slovenia will continue to take good care of its Hungarian ethnic minority and will at the same time strive to secure a similar level of protection for the Slovenian minority in Hungary.
"If Slovenia has no territorial claims to other countries that does not mean that it is ready to trade with the basic rights of the minority living there. It is high time that their situation is settled in line with the European standards which Slovenia is quite successfully following at home. Slovenia is counting with Hungary's understanding as it has minorities in all (of its) neighbouring states," Jansa said.
The celebration featured over 200 performers, including one of Slovenia's most famous singers and songwriters Vlado Kreslin, as well as a reenactment of the 1919 transfer of power from the military to the civilian authorities.
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