Arčon meets Klagenfurt mayor, bishop as he ends Carinthia visit
Klagenfurt, 29 March - Minister for Slovenians Abroad Matej Arčon concluded a two-day visit to the Austrian state of Carinthia on Wednesday by meeting Mayor of Klagenfurt Christian Scheider and Bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt Jože Marketz after meeting Carinthia Governor Peter Kaiser on the first day of the visit, the Office for Slovenians Abroad said.
Globasnitz, Austria
Minister for Slovenians Abroad Matej Arčon shaking hands with Carinthia Governor Peter Kaiser on Tuesday.
Photo: Katja Kodba/STA
Meeting Mayor Scheider and Deputy Mayor Lojze Dolinar, Arčon thanked them for the funds the municipality provides to bilingual groups in kindergartens.
He was also happy to note the deputy mayor is ethnic Slovenian, which he believes shows the municipality has "a serious attitude" towards the Slovenian ethnic community.
Arčon highlighted infrastructure problems of the Slovenian track-and-field club, as the sport park it rents from the municipality has not been renovated after a fire a few years ago. Scheider assured him they would do their best to change that.
The meeting was also aimed at intensifying relations with Klagenfurt before its Slovenian twin city of Nova Gorica co-hosts the 2025 European Capital of Culture project together with Italy's Gorizia.
Bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt Marketz, the first Slovenian bishop in Carinthia in 250 years, outlined to Arčon the situation in bilingual parishes, stressing Slovenian was used in churches in Carinthia even in the most difficult times after WWII. The pair agreed new ways should be found to attract youth and include multilingual families in society.
Arčon also met the representatives of the Urban Jarnik Slovenian Institute of Ethnography, which would need more space, especially to keep its previous manuscripts. The institute is dedicated to ethnologic research of tangible and non-tangible heritage in Carinthia.
The minister concluded his visit in Sankt Jakob im Rosental visiting the privately-run Higher College for Economic Professions, a dorm for secondary school students and a kindergarten. The school asked him for emergency financial aid.