President raises dust with statement about homeland of Slovenians in Italy

"Homeland is of course a broader concept," Pirc Musar's office said in explaining her statement. "So Italy is the country where they live, pay taxes, etc. And it is Italy that must also guarantee them minority rights. Just as the members of the Italian minority in Slovenia are citizens of Slovenia and it is Slovenia's duty to ensure that their rights are implemented," the office said.

It added that the president had repeatedly said in public appearances and interviews that Slovenians living abroad were co-creators of Slovenian culture and national identity. "As Slovenian president, she will always support projects that strengthen national identity and language and promote cooperation based on European values," the office said.

According to media reports, a high-school student said during the talk with Pirc Musar that a minority could not do without a homeland, and asked the president whether she felt that the Slovenians in Slovenia knew and respected their fellow Slovenians abroad well enough. "Your homeland is Italy. You contribute to the development, coexistence and culture of Italy. Don't forget that," Pirc Musar replied, according to media reports.

According to web portal N1, representatives of the Slovenian community in Italy and the presidents of both umbrella minority organisations were negatively surprised by her statement.

"Only Slovenia is homeland to us," Walter Bandelj, president of the Council of Slovenian Organisations, told N1. "Ljubljana is more of our home than Rome," he added.

Ksenija Dobrila from the Slovenian Cultural and Economic Association said that Pirc Musar might have made a mistake and actually meant to say country rather than homeland. "Culturally and linguistically we are part of the Slovenian nation. Our country is Italy of course, after all we live according to its rules. We also have Italian citizenship, but a homeland is a different matter," she told the web portal.

This is not the first time that Pirc Musar's statement has upset Slovenians abroad. Soon after she was elected at the end of last year she told the Austrian broadcaster ORF that "minority rights are well regulated" in Austria and that "there are practically no problems".

This upset the National Council of Carinthian Slovenians (NSKS), an umbrella organisation of the Slovenian minority in Austria, which pointed to the non-implementation of some of the fundamental Austrian treaties. Pirc Musar later explained she meant no harm and offered her apologies to those who may have misunderstood her statement.

The three coalition parties responded to Pirc Musar's statement Thursday afternoon, with the senior coalition Freedom Movement labelling it disrespectful "not only to Slovenians living across our borders but to all Slovenians and our ancestors, who died, suffered and fought for our homeland and state".

The Social Democrats (SD) underlined that Slovenians living in the neighbouring countries were equal, appreciated and respected members of a united Slovenian nation. "Slovenia is your homeland and homeland stretches beyond state borders."

Matej T. Vatovec, the deputy group leader of the Left, also commented on the matter, saying that "homeland is an abstract term, but it surely is not just the state in which you reside and pay taxes". He said that this was all the more true for the Slovenian minority in Italy, considering "the attitude of Rome towards history".