Fourth Periodical Report Presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in Accordance with Article 15 of the Charter
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Strasbourg, 16 September 2013 MIN-LANG (2013) PR 04 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Fourth periodical report presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter SLOVENIA EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES THE FOURTH PERIODICAL REPORT TO THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 15 OF THE CHARTER THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA JUNE 2013 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3 Part I 5 The area settled by the Italian and Hungarian-speaking community and the population census 5 Activities in the area of minority protection 6 Legislation on the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and recent amendments to regulations 10 Clarifications of Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (RecChL(2010)5 of 26 May 2010) 18 Part II 26 Clarifications of Recommendation of the Committee of Experts on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Slovenia 26 Article 7 Objectives and principles 34 Part III 45 Article 8 Education 45 Article 10 Administrative authorities and public services 51 Article 11 Media 61 Article 13 Economic and social life 69 Article 14 Cross-border exchanges 73 Enclosures: 77 Enclosure 1: Co-financed cultural projects of the Serbian ethnic group in the Republic of Slovenia in the 2010-2012 period 77 Enclosure 2: Co-financed cultural projects of the Bosniak community in the Republic of Slovenia in the 2010-2012 period 87 Enclosure 3: Co-financed cultural projects of the Croatian community in the Republic of Slovenia in the 2010-2012 period 91 Enclosure 4: Co-financed cultural projects of the German-speaking ethnic group in the Republic of Slovenia in the 2010-2012 perio 94 Enclosure 5: Co-financed cultural projects of the Roma community in Slovenia in the 2010-2012 period 98 3 Introduction The Republic of Slovenia signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (hereinafter: the Charter) on 3 July 1997 and ratified it on 19 July 2000. The Charter was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia (Uradni list RS) on 4 August 2000. When depositing the instrument of ratification on 4 October 2000, Slovenia stated that the provisions of the Charter would apply in Slovenia as of 1 January 2001. The purpose of the Charter is to protect and promote the use of regional and minority languages in Europe as integral parts of its cultural heritage. In this context, it protects languages which have traditionally been used by members of ethnic communities in certain parts of the country. The Charter does not include dialects of the official language of the State nor the languages of immigrants. When depositing the Charter, the Republic of Slovenia informed the Secretary General of the Council of Europe that in the sense of the Charter, the Italian and Hungarian languages were regional or minority languages on the territory of the Republic of Slovenia. In accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2 of the Charter, the Republic of Slovenia applies to these two languages the following paragraphs and sub- paragraphs referred to in Part III of the Charter: From Article 8: for Italian: paragraph 1 a (i), b (i), c (i), d (i), e (iii), f (iii), g, h, i and paragraph 2 for Hungarian: paragraph 1 a (ii), b (ii), c (ii), d (ii), e (iii), f (iii), g, h, i and paragraph 2 From Article 9: for Italian and Hungarian: paragraph 1 a, b, c, d and paragraph 2 a. From Article 10: for Italian and Hungarian: paragraph 1 a (i), b, c, paragraph 2, paragraph 3 a, paragraph 4 and paragraph 5. From Article 11: for Italian and Hungarian: paragraph 1 a (i), e (i), paragraph 2 and paragraph 3. From Article 12: for Italian and Hungarian: paragraph 1 a, d, e, f, paragraph 2 and paragraph 3. From Article 13: for Italian and Hungarian: paragraph 1 and paragraph 2. From Article 14: for Italian and Hungarian: paragraphs a and b. In addition, Slovenia informed the Secretary General that the provisions of Article 7, Paragraphs 1 to 4, would apply mutatis mutandis to the Romani language. The Republic of Slovenia submitted its Initial Periodical Report according to the Charter on 14 March 2002. It was followed by the Second Periodical Report on 13 June 2005 and the Third Periodical Report on 2 June 2009. The present Fourth Periodical Report of the Republic of Slovenia was prepared on the basis of contributions from the Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Market Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia and National Education Institute. The Ministry responsible for local self-government included local self-government bodies in the process of preparing contributions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for coordinating the preparation of the report informed non-governmental organisations at a regular meeting on 12 February 2013. On this occasion, the non- governmental organisations were also informed that the draft report would be provided to all interested parties via website for examination and eventual amendments. On 20 February 2013, before the final process of inter-ministerial coordination, the draft report was published on the website of the Ministry 4 of Foreign Affairs1 with an invitation to interested individuals or groups to submit their proposals. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received no comments or proposed amendments. In accordance with the new guidelines for presenting periodical reports (MIN-LANG (2009) 8 of 6 May 2009) the report focuses on the development and modifications made since the Third Periodical Report (MIN-LANG/PR (2009) 3 of 2 June 2009) and on the Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers (RecChl(2010) 5 of 26 May 2010), as well as questions posed by the Council of Europe (MIN-LANG (2011) 7 - Questions referred to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia with a request for information to be included in its Fourth Periodical Report of 25 May 2011). In areas in which no changes were made that would require reporting, relevant information can be found in the previous Third Periodical Report. 1 http://www.mzz.gov.si/nc/si/medijsko_sredisce/novica/article/141/31729/ 5 Part I The area settled by the Italian and Hungarian-speaking community and the population census The area settled by the Italian-speaking community comprises ethnically mixed areas of settlements (the settlements are defined in individual municipality statutes) in three coastal municipalities. Koper/Capodistria (Article 7: “Slovene and Italian are official languages in the ethnically mixed area of the Municipality where the members of the autochthonous Italian national community reside, which comprises the settlements of Ankaran/Ancarano, Barizoni/Barisoni, Bertoki/Bertocchi, Bošamarin/Bossamarino, Cerej/Cerei, Hrvatini/Crevatini, Kampel/Campel, Kolomban/Colombano, Koper/Capodistria, Prade, Premančan/Premanzano, a part of the settlement of Spodnje Škofije (Valmarin), Šalara/Salara and Škocjan/San Canziano.”2), Izola/Isola (Article 4, paragraph 3: “The Slovene and Italian languages have equal status in public and social life in the ethnically mixed area (bilingual area) which comprises the Town of 3 Izola/Isola and the settlements Dobrava pri Izoli, Jagodje, Livada and Polje pri Izoli.” Piran/Pirano (Article 3: “The status of the Italian language is equal status to that of the Slovene language in public life in the ethnically mixed area of the Municipality where members of the Italian national community reside, which comprises the settlements of Piran/Pirano, Portorož/Portorose, Lucija/Lucia, Strunjan/Strugnano, Seča/Sezza, Sečovlje/Sicciole, Parecag/Parezzago and Dragonja (bilingual area).” 4). The Hungarian-speaking community resides in five municipalities in Prekmurje, i.e. the eastern part of Slovenia along the Hungarian border: Hodoš/Hodos (Article 1: “The Municipality of Hodoš – Hodos Község is a self- governing local community established by law on the territory of the following ethnically mixed settlements: Hodoš/Hodos, Krplivnik/Kapornak.”5 Šalovci (Article 2: “A part of the area of the Municipality where members of the Hungarian national community reside is ethnically mixed. The ethnically mixed area of the Municipality comprises the settlement of Domanjševci/Domonkosfa.”.6), Moravske Toplice (Article 1, paragraph 2: “Members of the Hungarian national community reside in the settlements of Čikečka vas/Csekefa, Motvarjevci/Szentlászló, Pordašinci/Kisfalu, Prosenjakovci/Pártosfalva and Središče/Szerdahely. ”7), Dobrovnik/Dobrovnak (Article 2: “A part of the area of the Municipality where members of the Hungarian national community reside is ethnically mixed. The ethnically mixed area comprises the settlements of Dobrovnik/Dobronak and Žitkovci/Zsitkóc.”8), Lendava/Lendva (Article 1: “The Municipality of Lendava is a self-governing local community, established by law on the territory of the following settlements: Banuta/Bánuta, Benica, Čentiba/Csente, Dolga vas/Hosszúfalu, Dolgovaške gorice/Hosszúfaluhegy, Dolina pri Lendavi/Völgyifalu, Dolnji Lakoš/Alsólakos, Gaberje/Gyertyános, Genterovci/Göntérháza, Gornji Lakoš/Felsölakos, Hotiza, Kamovci/Kámaháza, Kapca/Kapca, Kot/Kót, Lendava/Lendva, Lendavske gorice/Lendvahegy, Mostje/Hidvég, Petišovci/Petesháza, Pince/Pince, Pince Marof/Pince major, Radmožanci/Radamos, Trimlini/Hármasmalom and Brezovec - del. The ethnically mixed area of the Municipality where members of the Hungarian national community also live comprises the above- named settlements, except for the settlements of Benica, Hotiza and Brezovec- del.”9). 2 Statute of the Municipality of Koper (Uradne objave Nos. 40/2000, 30/2001 and 29/2003; Ur.