Language issue in driving licences for ethnic Slovenians in Italy
Rome, 29 March - Members of the Slovenian ethnic minority in Italy have to wait longer and pay extra money to have their name written with č, š, ž - the three Slovenian letters the Italian alphabet does not have - when extending their driving licence in Trieste, the office of Tatjana Rojc, Italian senator of Slovenian descent, said on Wednesday.
Ljubljana
Cars.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
File photo
"The name and surname written correctly in the driving licence is a right, not a luxury for which a high price should be paid and for which one should wait longer than for an 'ordinary' one," Rojc, a member of the Italian Democratic Party (PD), said as she asked Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi about the reasons for this.
She was prompted to action after an Italian citizen of Slovenian descent from Trieste told her that Slovenians who want to have their driving licence extended with Italian automotive club ACI in Trieste are asked to pay EUR 150 to have their names written with č, š, ž instead of c, s, z, and wait for it ten days longer than without this request.
Rojc believes that after a similar issue was resolved for ID cards several years ago, it should be possible to use č, š and ž in other documents without a major effort.
She said that "the cost of extending a driving licence with ACI ranges between 60 and 100 euro, depending on region. In Trieste, where the wait time to get it is ten days longer than the regular procedure, it costs 95 euro".