Slovene Union
|
Slovene Union
Slovenska skupnost – Unione Slovena |
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Rafko Dolhar |
| Founded | 1963 |
| Headquarters | Via G. Gallina, 5/III 34122 Trieste |
| Newspaper | Skupnost |
| Ideology |
Regionalism Minority rights Centrism Christian democracy |
| European affiliation | European Free Alliance |
| Website | |
| http://www.slovenskaskupnost.org/ | |
The Slovene Union (Slovene: Slovenska skupnost, Italian: Unione Slovena, SSk) is a centrist political party in Italy representing the Slovene minority in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Its Slovenian language name means literally "Slovene Community", but the denomination "Slovene Union" is used in other languages.
The party was founded in the 1960s to represent the anti-communist Slovenes in the Italian Julian March (provinces of Trieste and Gorizia). It the 1970s and 1980s, it extended its presence also to Venetian Slovenia and Canale Valley in the Province of Udine. It has been considered to be close to the Catholic Church and has drawn its support from various Slovene Catholic institutions in Italy, such as the Hermagoras Society and the Council of Slovene Organizations.
Since 2007, the SSk is affiliated to the Democratic Party (PD). The relation between the two parties is regulated by an "agreement of federation", which guarantees the full autonomy of the SSk.
The SSk was founded in 1962 with the merger of several Slovene anti-communist political organizations that had functioned since 1945 in the Italian part of the Julian March (Venezia Giulia), that is in the provinces Gorizia and Trieste (until 1954 Zone A of the Free Territory of Trieste). These organizations included the Slovene Christian Social Union (Slovenska krščansko socialna zveza, SKSZ), led by Engelbert Besednjak and Avgust Sfiligoj; the liberal Slovene Democratic Union (Slovenska demokratska zveza, SDZ), led by Josip Agneletto and Andrej Uršič; and the social-democratic Group of Independent Slovenes (Skupina neodvisnih Slovencev, SNS), led by Josip Ferfolja, Frane Tončič and Dušan Rybář. All these groups shared an anti-fascist ideology, they were opposed to Italian nationalism and centralism, as well as to the Communist regime of the nearby Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Coming from different ideological background, but sharing similar programs, these groups soon established a close collaboration, creating many joint lists in municipal and provincial elections. Between 1947 and 1954, a unitary action was hindered by the fact that the Slovene minority was split into two separate political realities, one in the Republic of Italy and the other in the Free Territory of Trieste.
...
Wikipedia