Highlights – May 2009
TAKE NOTE: Elections in European Parliament
From the 4th to 7th of June millions of Europeans will have the opportunity to elect theirs representatives in the European Parliament for the next 5 years. They will play a key role in forming the European political future. In the last 5 years the parliament reached a long list of decisions – from those that were routine to those that were turning points in the operations of the Union. Current political themes were debated, and well as complicated technical questions. The Slovenes will elect our representatives in the European Parliament on Sunday, the 7th of June. For more detailed information about the elections please visit the web site of the State election commission: www.dvk.gov.si.
THE INTERVIEW: Branko Zupanc, Charge d’Affaires a.i., Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, Berne
Mr. Branko Zupanc, Charge d’Affaires a.i. in theEmbassy of the Republic of Slovenia, Berne, has been in the diplomacy for more than 30 years and so he is very well informed of the issues in a migrant environment. »About 5000 Slovenes live in Switzerland and in the principality Liechtenstein. We notice, that when a period of work ends for the first wave of the migrant workers many of them are already retired and return home to Slovenia while their children stay here in a majority,« said Mr. Zupanc, with whom we were talking in the rooms of the Embassy, which is siuated in the centre of this beautiful Swiss metropolis.
A TALK WITH A FELLOW COUNTRYMAN: Just Rugel, President of Cultural-Educational Society Dr. France Prešeren, Moscow
In Sarajevo Just Rugel was born to Slovene parents, to mother Zdenka Belle and his late father, Dr. Janez Rugelj – a famous and surely the most successful Slovene psychiatrist, who dedicated his professional career above all to the medical treatment of alcoholics. Just has lived in Slovenia for 17 years (from the age of 3 to the age of 20) and later moved with his mother to Moscow, where he finished his studies. He is closely linked with all his 3 native countries; Bosnia, Slovenia and Russia, but judging from his work, his heart is the most bound up with the Slovene cause. He has been a business person for many years and he has also has the worldwide reputation as being the very active and productive president of the Cultural-Educational Society’s Dr. France Prešeren for the promotion of relations between Slovenia and Russia.
OUR NOTES: The Award Ceremony for the best Bachelor, Master Dissertations and Doctorate Theses on the topic of Slovenians living in neighbouring countries and Slovenians abroad
On April the 3rd in Ljubljana in the halls of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) the solemn conferring of the awards took place. It was devoted to the prizes for of the competition of the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenes Abroad for the best Bachelor, Master Dissertations and Doctorate Theses from the field of the Slovenes in the neighbouring countries and Slovenians abroad. The entertainment was solemnly opened by Minister Boštjan Žekš, who said in the preface, that it was an event organized by the Office that happened 7 times in a row that this year. The awards were conferred to the recipients for their achievements: Nataša Gliha Komac, Katja Jerman, Ana Peršič (from the field of the Slovenes in the neighbouring countries) and Barbara Medved – Cvikl, Dominik Janez Herle in Kristina Toplak (from the field of the Slovenes abroad). The purpose of competition is to stimulate research activities of undergraduate and postgraduate students in the field of foreign service and emigration specialties. Research in these areas increase the awareness of its importance for the preservation of the Slovene identity in the mother country and beyond its borders.