Union of Slovenian Associations in Croatia gets new head
Rijeka, 21 September - The Union of Slovenian Associations in Croatia elected Barbara Antolić Vupora its new president on Saturday. Antolić Vupora, who succeeds Barbara Riman and with whose election the union is relocating from Rijeka to Zagreb, told the STA she will focus on greater involvement of young people and closer collaboration between associations.
Croatia
Croatian MP and representative of Slovenian Minority in the Varaždin county Barbara Antolić Vupora.
Photo: Tina Bernik/STA
The union's new head plans to establish new institutions and fields of activity, which will include not only the teaching of the Slovenian language and culture, but also scientific research, economic initiatives, and sports activities involving what are around 10,000 Slovenians living in Croatia.
"I want the Slovenian community here to become more dynamic and visible in the media space. To achieve this, we must first involve more young people in the work of the associations," said Antolić Vupora, a member of Croatia's centre-left SDP party who was reelected this year for a second term as MP.
She added that there is a growing number of children in Croatia learning Slovenian, "hundreds of them", crediting this development to Riman, a historian who led the union since 2018.
Riman's term was due to end in two years, but she and her deputy, Jasmina Dlačić, decided to step down early. Riman explained to the STA that they resigned because leading the union made it too hard to balance their private and professional lives. Dlačić will be succeeded by Silvester Kmetić, the vice-president of the Slovenian Home in Zagreb.
Antolić Vupora was born in 1968 in Celje. In 2008, she co-founded the Slovenian Cultural Society Nagelj in Varaždin. As the president of the Council of the Slovenian National Minority in Varaždin County, she has consistently promoted the integration of Slovenians into the local community and the spread of Slovenian culture. At her initiative, schools in Varaždin County introduced lessons on the Slovenian language and culture.
There are presently 17 Slovenian societies operating under the Union of Slovenian Associations in Croatia, with another organisation expected to join by the end of the month.
Following Antolić Vupora's election, the seat of the union will be returned to Zagreb, where it was from 1996 until the election of Riman in 2018. The headquarters were also in Rijeka for the first few years after the union was founded in January 1992, when it was led by its first president Vinko Žibert.