Gusenbauer Proposes Solution to Bilingual Signs
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer proposes that 163 bilingual settlements in the province of Carinthia be equipped with Slovenian-German signs, Austrian media reported on Monday, just days before the expiry of a deadline that the chancellor has set for the resolution of the issue.
The proposal, which is to be officially presented this week and the deadline for which is 28 June, includes city limits as well as signposts.
Gusenbauer's proposal also says that names in both languages should be written in the same form and size. This is seen as a response to Carinthian Governor Joerg Haider's action, when he replaced bilingual signs in two villages with signs in German that also contained Slovenian names written in much smaller letters.
According to Gusenbauer's solution, bilingual signs would also be erected in 51 settlements in Burgenland, where the Croatian and Hungarian minorities live.
The solution envisages committees for the development of bilingual areas in Carinthia and Burgenland. They would deal with all issues connected with the bilingual ares, especially culture, social affairs and the economy.
The committees would also send requests, recommendations and positions to the Austrian government. They would draft proposals for supportive measures.
Gusenbauer's office said that the proposal was based on a wide consensus with mayors of affected municipalities, representatives of the Slovenian minority and political parties. The chancellor's spokesman, Stefan Poettler, added that Gusenbauer always said none of the sides had a right to a veto.
Haider meanwhile said that if the parliamentary committee on constitutional issues adopted the proposal on Thursday, he would push for early general elections. He said Gusenbauer's proposal would definitely not be carried out.
He also said that Gusenbauer and the Austrian Social Democrats (SPOe) were trying to buy the mayors of the municipalities where bilingual signs would be erected with financial incentives.
Haider added that his nationalist Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZOe) would not submit to the command from the capital and that he hoped the Austrian People's Party (OeVP) would withhold its support for Gusenbauer's proposal.
When setting the deadline, Gusenbauer said that the government would not tackle the issue again during this term if a solution was not reached.
The minority organisation demanded that bilingual signs be put up in 173 towns and wanted a provision allowing more signs to be added later.
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