Minister visits Slovenian community in Croatia
Zagreb, 26 October - Minister for Slovenians Abroad Matej Arčon met with representatives of the Slovenian ethnic community in Croatia on Wednesday. The meeting in Zagreb was dedicated to talks on priorities, targets and plans, the minister's office said, noting that learning Slovenian was one such priority.
Gorizia, Italy.
Minister for Slovenians Abroad Matej Arčon.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
File photo
"As agreed in June, we've started with concrete activities, defining objectives and a time frame for achieving them," Arčon said after the meeting.
Touching on the key priorities, he highlighted the issue of Slovenian language classes, economic cooperation, identifying appropriate candidates in elections to representative bodies, setting up cultural associations in areas where the community is not yet represented by organisations, and raising its profile in media and online, the Office for Slovenians Abroad said.
During the meeting, the community's representatives noted their efforts to attract more Slovenian language teachers. They also discussed challenges regarding the Slovenian organisations' premises, efforts to strengthen economic cooperation, and their media or social media visibility, the press release reads.
The community has been warning about the shortage of Slovenian teachers in Croatian schools, noting that although the Slovenians in Croatia are entitled by law to Slovenian lessons, this right is often denied to students due to lack of Slovenian teachers.