Friuli Regional Parliament Passes Minority Law

Trieste, 23 October

The regional parliament of the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has passed a bill protecting the Slovenian minority which many view as the final step to implementing state legislation passed on the matter in 2001.

With the support of the centre-left majority as well as the opposition Northern League, the lawmakers passed the final six of the 25 articles and two resolutions contained in the bill that enacts new rules on the use of Slovenian in public life and financial aid for the minority.
The centre-left parties that sponsored the legislation stressed in the debate that the law was based on the national legislation. Ahead of the vote regional Culture Minister Roberto Antonaz said the government was happy that the process of adopting a European-compatible law was coming to an end.
According to Antonaz, the law marks the closure of an issue that had caused divisions over the past century. It is also a step forward in ensuring full implementation of the national legislation on the protection of the Slovenian minority. The law deals with financial aid for Slovenian minority organisations and institutions and the funding for means of ensuring the use of Slovenian in the public administration.
The two main minority organisations, the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association and the Council of Slovenian Organisations, are granted in the bill the status of representative minority organisations, which will get their own funds to allocate for various activities.
The opposition lawmakers belonging to the centre-right parties, including the National Alliance and the Forza Italia, were critical of this status for the two organisations as well the creation of a special regional commission for the Slovenian minority, where the two organisations will hold a majority.
Moreover, opposition criticism was also directed at the rejection of an amendment that would recognise Resians as a minority separate from the Slovenian minority in the region. Instead the majority passed an amendment that gives the Resian dialect a special status.
The adoption of the regional law comes a little over a month after Italian President Giorgio Napolitano signed a decree that is the basis for enforcing the 2001 Slovenian minority act in 32 municipalities in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
The national act is to be carried out in 32 municipalities, based on a list put together in 2003 by a joint committee for the issues of the Slovenian minority. The list includes six municipalities in the Trieste province (including the city of Trieste), eight in the Gorizia province (including the city of Gorizia) and eighteen in the Udine province.

Friuli Regional Parliament Passes Minority Law

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