President decorates Italian, Austrian officials

Ljubljana, 15 November - President Borut Pahor conferred on Tuesday state decorations on Peter Kaiser, governor of the Austrian state of Carinthia, and Massimiliano Fedriga, president of the Italian autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia. The pair were honoured for their contribution to enhancing cooperation between Slovenia, and Austria and Italy, respectively.

Ljubljana
President Borut Pahor (centre) confers state decorations on Peter Kaiser, governor of the Austrian state of Carinthia (left) and Massimiliano Fedriga, president of the Italian autonomous region Friuli Venezia-Giulia.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA

Ljubljana
President Borut Pahor (centre) confers state decorations on Peter Kaiser, governor of the Austrian state of Carinthia (left) and Massimiliano Fedriga, president of the Italian autonomous region Friuli Venezia-Giulia.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA

Ljubljana
President Borut Pahor (centre) confers state decorations on Peter Kaiser, governor of the Austrian state of Carinthia (left) and Massimiliano Fedriga, president of the Italian autonomous region Friuli Venezia-Giulia.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA

Ljubljana
President Borut Pahor (centre) confers state decorations on Peter Kaiser, governor of the Austrian state of Carinthia (left) and Massimiliano Fedriga, president of the Italian autonomous region Friuli Venezia-Giulia.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA

Fedriga received the Golden Order for Services for his contribution to enhancing the Slovenian-Italian cooperation and his support for the Slovenian minority in Italy in its efforts for the return of Narodni Dom (National Hall) in Trieste to the minority on the centenary of its arson by Fascists as a symbolic act of reconciliation and a correction of history.

He was also honoured for his contribution to the ceremonies held on the anniversary to commemorate four Slovenian anti-fascist fighters in Basovizza, and the ceremonies in Nova Gorica.

"He has taken all the necessary steps, within his powers, to ensure that the procedures for the return of the National Hall in Trieste were carried out correctly and on time. He stood firmly and unwaveringly behind the decision that the National Hall should be returned to the Slovenian minority," reads the justification of the president's office.

In July 2020, President Pahor and Italian President Sergio Mattarella visited the Memorial to Basovizza Heroes as well as the Foiba of Basovizza, a karst pit which for Italians symbolises post-war summary killings by Partisans.

Fedriga thanked Pahor for the decoration and for constructive relations with Friuli Venezia Giulia and Italy in the past years. "President Pahor has revolutionised friendly relations between Slovenia and Italy," he stressed.

He pointed to his joint visit with Mattarella to Trieste and the return of the National Hall. Europe can only find an answer to the difficult times it is going through because of the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the price hikes if it acts in Pahor's manner, he said at today's ceremony at the Presidential Palace.

Kaiser received the Golden Order for Services for helping to strengthen cooperation between Slovenia and Austria and for supporting the implementation of the rights of the Slovenian minority in Carinthia as well as for his contribution to the ceremony marking the centenary of the Carinthian plebiscite.

Pahor and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen attended the ceremony at which Van der Bellen apologised to the Slovenian minority in the Slovenian language for all the injustices and delays in the implementation of their minority rights.

Kaiser said it was a pleasure to receive the decoration "from a friend and a person I hold in high esteem". He said that Pahor, in cooperation with other Slovenian politicians, had contributed to establishing a new, good and trustful basis for cooperation between Slovenia and Austria within the EU and also with Carinthia.

He added that he was aware that there was still room for improvement and was convinced that future generations would also realise that cooperation was better than working against each other, that it was better to learn from history than to negate certain facts, and that this would "unite us and lead us to a common future".

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© STA, 2022