RIJEKA, Dec 30 (Hina) - The Italian Union executive committee's chairman, Silvano Zilli, on Monday said that the decision of the Trieste-based national university to discontinue financing the Italian Union as of 1 January was a form
of blackmailing so that some different political solutions might be imposed on this organisation of ethnic Italians in Croatia and Slovenia.
RIJEKA, Dec 30 (Hina) - The Italian Union executive committee's
chairman, Silvano Zilli, on Monday said that the decision of the
Trieste-based national university to discontinue financing the
Italian Union as of 1 January was a form of blackmailing so that some
different political solutions might be imposed on this
organisation of ethnic Italians in Croatia and Slovenia. #L#
Zilli told Hina that the change in attitude of the Trieste-based
"Universtia popolare di Trieste - UPT" towards the Italian Union
ensued after the appointment of new staff in the UPT ten months ago,
and those new persons, who are representatives of some political
parties, were trying to impose their vision of the work of the
"Unione Italiana - UI" in Croatia and Slovenia.
Zilli said the UI wanted to be an autonomous subject and could not
accept pressure exerted from Trieste.
He also hopes that the standpoint of the Trieste university is not
the official standpoint of the Italian government.
The Italian government, via the UPT, allocates about 3.6 million
euros for the activities of the Italian Union. The allocation of the
funds is carried out in line with a Permanent Plan, and the money is
used for financing almost all the activities of the Italian ethnic
minority in Croatia and Slovenia. The funds, for example, are used
for the financing of the Rijeka-based publishing house in the
Italian language, "Edit", and its daily "La Voce del Popolo".
(hina) ms sb