“Discrimination” – Kunasek resigns in the national anthem conflict with Slovenia

Slovenia has called on Styria’s new state government to be “cautious” in its plan to constitutionally protect the state song and reaffirm its “territorial integrity and sovereignty”. The government program of the FPÖ-ÖVP government states: “The state song, the ‘Dachsteinlied’, must be included in the state constitution.”

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry criticized the plan as ignoring the historical context in which the Dachstein song was created.

Kunasek fires back
Kunasek confirmed on Tuesday that as governor of Styria he is committed to the national anthem. She is an important symbol for our state. Anyone who sees this attitude as an attack on sovereignty and the rule of law should ask themselves what the legal recognition of minorities on their territory looks like.

“Old Austrians are exposed to a wide range of discrimination”
“Unlike the Slovenian ethnic group in Austria, Old Austrians in Slovenia, whose native language is German, are still subjected to all kinds of discrimination and are not recognized as a native ethnic group. The Slovenian state could finally take action here and immediately take the highly secured Krško reactor offline.”

Greens against ‘nationalist symbolic politics’
However, the Styrian Greens are calling for an “immediate end to this nationalist symbolic policy”. “Instead of addressing the real concerns of Styrians, the state government is relying on divisive provocations,” said Sandra Krautwaschl, leader of the Green Party of Styria.