Arčon pledges startup support for Slovenians from abroad

The meeting started with an event in Parliament House on Thursday dedicated to young members of Slovenian communities around the world.

Minister Arčon said that his office would continue supporting the young with scholarships to allow them to learn the Slovenian language or study in Slovenia. They will also continue to finance summer camps for them in Slovenia, and schools and cultural activities abroad.

Young Slovenian expatriates or their peers who have Slovenian ancestry should feel they have options to return or move to Slovenia, said Arčon, who also serves as deputy prime minister.

When it comes to economic cooperation, the Office for Slovenians Abroad plans measures to step up its support for startups, he said.

In autumn they will also establish an organisation aimed at promoting sports cooperation between Slovenia and Slovenian minorities in neighbouring countries. The project will look up to an existing organisation promoting economic cooperation between these stakeholders.

Hosted by the parliamentary Commission for the Relations with Slovenians in Neighbouring and Other Countries, the event in the National Assembly heard several representatives of young Slovenians living abroad, including Natko Štiglić from Croatia, who warned about the relative invisibility of the Slovenian minority there.

"We, Slovenians in Croatia, still do not have a daily, weekly or monthly newspaper, a radio or television programme, bilingual or Slovenian-only schools, pre-school institutions where it would be possible to learn the Slovenian language, cultural centres ... economic associations and many other things that exist in neighbouring countries," he said.

Štiglić, a researcher at the Ljubljana Institute for Ethnic Studies, also warned about the persistent decline in the number of Slovenians in Croatia. One of the positive developments is the possibility to learn Slovenian as a native language in Croatian schools.

Currently, there are 350 students learning Slovenian at a total of eleven primary or secondary schools in Croatia.

Sandro Quaglia, a representatives of the Council of Slovenian Organisations, one of the two umbrella organisations of Slovenians in Italy, also talked about the decline in their numbers.

The central part of the Welcome Home meeting will take place in Celje and Ljubljana over the weekend.