The Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissow officially presented the European Parliament the program for Bulgarian EU- presidency, which was overtaken by his country with the beginning ot this year. In such connection he demanded a clear future vision for the joining of the Western Balkan countries to the EU. From the view on the safety situation on the Western Balkan, especially in the connection with the danger of terrorism , the possiblity of unlegal enterance of radical islamists and foreign fighters, Borissow expects the support of the Union, before these countries would be dependant upon the support of Russia, China or Saudi Arabia. In his opinion the safety of all Europe depends on the safety on the Balkan.

In his reaction to the speach of the Bulgarian prime minister the Head of the European Commission Jean- Claude Juncker once again stressed the aim of EU joining of the Western Balkan countries. The accesses will be possible only afterwards, when in these countries the agreed necessary reforms would be implemented. Herewith Juncker set a special attention to the solution of the border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia and the name debate between Macedonia and Greece.

At the end of November the Regional Council for Cooperation (RCC) published its results of the „Balkan barometer 2017“. The Balkan barometer started functioning in 2015 and was held this year for the third time. It consists of multiregional questionnaires in the seven countries of the Balkan- Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia. Montenegro and Croatia, which is already a member of the EU.

The research was orientated on the standpoints of inhabitants towards the government politics, public services as well as the legal measures about the membership in the EU, efficiency of fighting against corruption and the opposition to climate changes.

The results are showing, that the people are under impact of their social networks strongly anchored in their home countries and that they do not trust the politics, which is a source of instability. An additional problem appears to be the high rate of unemployment, primarly caused by the unsufficient qualification and prejudices against ethnical groups.

So it is not surprising, that in Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo the general standpoint about the membership in the EU is mainly positive. On the contrary the inhabitants of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not convinced about the positive effects of the membership. Also the Croatian people are critical about their status in the Unity. The inhabitants of Montenegro have no clear opinion about the positive and negative sides of the membership. In total the share of the supporters of the EU membership has slightly increased, however there is no clear tendency about the complete approval of the membership to be traced.

In this moment there are six countries in the Schengen area, where are in force border controls, which are in reference to the actual situation in validity till November 11th, 2017. Among these countries there are Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, France and the non EU member Norway. The named countries applied for the prolongation of the controls on Friday, October 13th in the frame of Council of Home affairs in Luxemburg due to the political safety situation- namely the »not sufficient contol at the EU- outer borders and the increase of the terrorism threats«.
At the Austrian border with Germany there were registered – following the data of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior - between January and August 2017 more than 11.242 non permitted entrances. In Austria the controls are in force at the borders with Hungary and Slovenia. In accordance with the situation a new control point was opened on October 13th, 2017 at the Italian border near Brenner lake for the control of cargo trains coming from the south.

After twelve years of planning a new electric wind turbine was installed in Carinthia. At its start on Ploecken pass the increase of Carinthian wind electricity capacity for 160 percents was celebrated. The new turbine is attractive also because of its artistic design.

The first wind turbine in Carinthia started to operate in the year 1997. Today, 20 years later, the total capacity of wind electricity has increased to 0,8 MW. Together both turbines produce about 1,3 MW of power, what is sufficient for approximately 700 households.

In the same time, as in Carinthia one wind turbine was installed, in the other Austrian states 700 turbines were installed with a total capacity of 2.000 MW.

At the occasion of this year's Bleiburg Meadowfair from the side of the Carinthian State Governor Dr. Peter Kaiser also the Municipality Brda was appraised and its Mayor Franc Mužič, who came to the Fair with a numerous delegation , received an award for ten years of the partnership between the Municipalities Brda and Bleiburg.

The Mayor of Bleiburg Stefan Visotschnig expressed his satisfaction, that the Fair did not lose on its vitality. Bernard Sadovnik, Stefan Lesjak and Filip Warasch from AACC, Klagenfurt were also present at the opening ceremony and roundabout, which followed the opening event.

„ I visited Brda twenty years ago for the first time. They have a good concept, I am enjoying the landscape, here I very feel well and that is reason, why I like to come again and again“, stressed the Styrian State counsellor for Education and Company Mag. Ursula Lackner at her recent visit of Goriška Brda. Also her close working collegues and the Country ORF director Gerhard Draxler were with her.
The Mayor of Brda Franc Mužič, who – together with madam Tina Novak Samec, the director of the Establishment for tourism, culture, youth and sport and with Anita Manfreda, the director of the municipality administration - accepted the Austrian guests, felt assured, that this visit would result in a very special response and the connections with Styria would become stronger.
On their visit the guests were accompanied by the President and the Secretary-General of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik and Filip Warasch.

Photo: The delegation in front of the altar in the Church of the Holy Cross (a masterpiece from a workshop in Villach)

On Friday, June 23rd, 2017 the European Commission announced a very ambitious plan: in the frame of the so called investment plan for Europe there should be available 2,7 billions of Euros for altogether 152 central transport projects. The desired achievements are the substantial modernisation of railway connections, innovative transport management, use of alternative fuels and support of cross-border connections. In this context the complete construction of the Karavanks' tunnel between Austria and Slovenia is planned. With the European initiative additionally new workplaces would be created and also the basis for stroger economic activity would be given, stressed the competent EU-Commisioner Violeta Bulc.

Brexit can lead to the process , that in the period of five years Great Britain will lose almost one half of the EU workforce, which is actually employed there. Such are the results of one study of the consulting firm Deloitte. Altogether 1,2 millions of workers from 3,4 millions of migrants in total, who are at the moment employed in United Kingdom, could leave Great Britain.

This threatening substantial movement of the workforce is primarly due to Brexit. Because of its cultural variety, job chances and high living standard is Great Britain considered as an especially attractive new homeland. According to Deloitte mainly the highly qualified workforce is thinking about leaving Great Britain, therefore it will be there necessary to invest intensively into the education of employees and automatisation.

EU member Cyprus is since 1974 – after the Greek military overthrough and the Turkish invasion of the northern part of the island - a divided country.
The existing, from the side of the United Nations (U.N.) intermediated talks regarding the reunification were up till now not successful.

On Friday, May 26th , 2017, the special U.N. Envoy Espen Barth Eide in Nicosia announced , that because the talks between the parties in dispute Mustafa Akinci (The President of „The Turkish Republic Northern Cyprus„) and Nicos Anastasiades (The President of the Greek part of Cyprus) failed to make any progress, there is no basis to continue the U.N. led discussions.

Not definetly cancelling the talks, the U.N. see in the moment the biggest insolvable obstacles especially on the fields of the power distribution, division of the territory, right of possession and insurance of safety.

After the triumph of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the constitutional referendum, which was held on April 16th, 2017, there are multiplying votes in the European Parliament, which support the interruption of EU-accession negotiations with Turkey. According to the standpoint of the observers the interruption is to be accepted already in the frame of the next regular summit of the European Council, which will be held on June 22nd and 23rd, 2017. However the official demand among 28 member countries was set only by Austria. EU-politicians of the other member countries have arguments against - namely the official interruption would place Turkey even more far from Europe and the pro-European forces in the country would become weaker.

The study, published in the Science-Magazin by independent scientists, reports about one consequence of the EU eastern enlargement in 2004 for the 10 new member countries.; then numerous highly educated workers sistematically left the mentioned countries in the direction of Western Europe. Especially scientists and other academics did not tend in the first step to cross-country cooperation, but tried immediatelly after the access to EU to find their future in established and renowned research centres of Western Europe. In this sense we can judge the integration of new members as one way road. According to the opinion of Fabio Pammolli, the professor of economy at the Politechnical University in Milano, it would be wrong to believe, that in these countries it would be possible to stop the Brain-Drain with big investments into the infrastructure and research.. Besides new members from 2004 the mentioned problematics is characteristic also of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia.

According to one study every second German producer of machines is facing growing orders, regarding the sales to Russia.
However the Russian economy is still in crisis, since low crude oil prices, the ruble exchange rate and economic sanctions are forcing the Russian Government to implement the diversification of its economy. This measure will bring profits also to German and European machinery producers.
While the German producers are still waiting for a significant increase of business with Russia, the Chinese rivals are already on the run. According to some data last year China exported to Russia for about 4,9 billions Euros of machines and devices and has so for the first time surpassed its German rival.

Carinthia and Slovenia will in future strengthen their mutual cooperation on different levels. This was confirmed by the Carinthian Governor Peter Kaiser and the Slovenian President of the Parliament Milan Brglez at the working meeting on the third of April 2017, which was held at the seat of the Carinthian Government.
Besides the actual thema of the implementation of the Slovenian minority in the new Carinthian constitution also the Krško Nuclear Power Plant, tasks at the refugees' movements and the position of the German speaking Oldaustrians in Slovenia were discussed.
The Austrian Ambassador in Slovenia Sigrid Berka, the Ambassador of Slovenia in Vienna Andrej Rahten, the President of the Carinthian Parliament Reinhart Rohr and the Slovenian Consul-General in Klagenfurt Milan Predan were also present at this meeting.

The Austrian Secretary Muna Duzdar visited Carinthia on Tuesday, March 6th, 2017. Among others she met the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik and the Carinthian Governor Dr. Peter Kaiser. The Secretary also favors intercultural dialogue and the promotion of interaction and interethnic relations, as this is also the basic orientation of activities and projects of the AACC.

End of last year the railway company from the Netherlands NS adjusted all its electrical trains to wind energy.
The transition from the electrical to wind energy was done one year earlier then planned.

Two years ago the company NS and the energy company Eneco signed a ten year contract, which defines a total transition to the wind energy for the operation of trains, namely till the beginning of 2018, reports "orf at" online. This task was however achieved one year before the planned date. Already last year the trains have reached 75% share of ecological energy, writes the newspaper "trends der zukunft" online. Every year the company NS, which transports daily on 5500 lines around 600.000 passengers, consumed about 1,2 billions of kilowatt-hours. The capacity of the wind wheel in one hour functioning period is sufficient, that the train makes the distance of 200 kilometers, refers "orf at" based on the info from NS and Eneco. Both companies will in the future try to achieve, that the consumption of electrical energy to 2020 is diminished to one third.

At the occasion of the 95th anniversary of Burgenland and of the 25 years of the Slovenian independance the representatives of both countries met on Tuesday, November 15th,on a mutual celebration in Seehof Rust, the seat of the Burgenland Wine Academy. Among many guests, greeted by the Mayor Mag. Gerold Stagl, were also: the Ambassador of Portugal, the Honorary Consul of Slovenia Dr. Peter Penkoff, the Presidents of the Country Counsil Christian Illedits and Rudolf Strommer, the President of the AACC and The Mayor Bernard Sadovnik and other representatives from politics, administration and tourism. At previously held bilateral discussion on the thema »Marketing for regions«, which was from the Burgenland side attended by the Governor Hans Niessl and the director of the State office Mag. Ronald Reiter, and from the Slovenian side by Zdravko Počivalšek, the Minister of Economic Development and Technology and Dr. Andrej Rahten, the Slovenian Ambassador, further possibilities for cross country cooperation were discussed, especially on the fields of tourism and wine. The signing of the partnership agreement between the town of Rust and the Slovenian town Ljutomer regarding the mutual marketing of wine sort furmint should mean the first step of this cooperation.

Start-up and Scale-up initiatives of the EU Commission should offer numerous inovative companies in Europe the best possibilities to become world -wide leaders. The Vice-President of the Commission, responsible for employment, growth, investments and competitiveness, Jyrki Katainen, told that for stimulating of Start-up companies regulational obstacles should be abolished. Necessary is an easier access to risky capital funds and also necessary »the second chance« for enterpreneurs, who are in difficult financial situation. Therefore the Commission and the European Investment Bank group are implementing the birth of trans-european risky capital umbrella fund. The EU-Commission is further active on taxation simplifications. In the last years the Commission prepared several political initiatives, out of which Start-up companies profited, for instance capital market union, the inner market strategy and the digitalisation of the inner market. With the new initiative the biggest obstacles in the formation and growth of companies should be faced.

Visit from Globasnitz/Globasnica in Perchtoldsdorf

On Saturday, October 29th, the municipal delegation of Globasnitz from Carinthian Jauntal visited Perchtoldsdorf. The delegation of almost 100 people, led by the Mayor Bernard Sadovnik and the Vice Mayor Peter Hutter, was accepted in the Town Castle by the Vice Mayor Brigitte Sommerbauer and led through Perchtoldsdorf by Mag. Gabriele Lindenthal and DDr. Gregor Gatscher-Riedl. The historically colored morning, which included also the climbing on the Tower, ended at "Heurigen Josef " and wine-cellar Marlene Wolflinger.

The Commission of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia for Relations with Minorities and Slovenians abroad, led by its President Ivan Hršak, visited Carinthia on Friday, October 14th, 2016. After the meeting in the Carinthian Parliament, the members of the Commission visited the bilingual municipality  Globasnitz/ Globasnica. There they met the political representatives of the Slovenian minority and the Mayor and the President of the AACC and SKS Bernard Sadovnik. The School Mistress Veronika Terbuch explained the guests the importance of functioning of bilingual elementary schools in bilingual communities. The AACC President and the Mayor Bernard Sadovnik stressed the importance of the cross-country- cooperation for the development of the border region.
The members of the delegation were also the members of the Parliament Ljudmila Novak, Violeta Tomič, Marinka Levičar, Marija Bačič and the Commission's secretary Barbara Medved Špiletič, Ambassador dr. Andrej Rahten, General Consul Milan Predan and Consul Jasna Goličič Bakovnik.

This year's Wine festival in Sittersdorf attracted numerous visitors. On the top of the guests of honor were the Carinthian State Governor Peter Kaiser and the President of the Carinthian Parliament Rudi Schober.

From September 19th to 21st in Ljubljana were held -in the frame of the cooperation between Ljubljana and Vienna, which started 16 years ago- the so called Viennese Days with numerous cultural events, an economic forum, presentations of the actual ecological projects in both cities, ending with surprise of the Viennese confectioners- the biggest Sacher-Torte in the world, with the radius of 3,5 meters and the weight of 600 kgs. At this occasion the Mayor of Ljubljana announced the counter visit of Vienna within the next year. The Viennese delegation was led by its Vicemayor and the City Councelor for Economics and Finance affairs Renate Brauner.

The Carinthian Governor Kaiser opened the Klagenfurt Autumn Fair, which is, as Kaiser stressed, directed ahead. The existing companies should get more connected with new developments and Start-ups.
Kaiser also mentioned the thema Hypo/Heta, for which a solution should be found in the mid of the next month. The way, which is pathed now, should be the only one acceptable for the future of this country.
After the greeting speaches of the leading country and state politicians the former Minister of Finance dr. Hannes Androsch held a lecture about the fairs as shows of achievements. He also warned about the ideas of exiting from EU, which are to be treated as proposals for economic suicide. We simply should not have no interest for a week EU or even for its disintegration. Especially for a small country like Austria the open markets are of fundamental meaning. „Only united we can be players on the world scene“, he stressed. Androsch did not forget to mention that in this moment the world economy is similar to a stammering motor. The overdue housework should be done quickly. Education has herewith the essential importance.

The Slovenia-day in Villach also visited representatives of the AACC, which is co-organizer of the event.

The mandatory cash register desks keep associations away from their participation at the Vilach Church Day, which will be held from July 31st to August 7th. The responsible persons are worried ,that the cooperation of voluntary workers would also not be possible.
104 traditional and 28 music groups will take care for the entertainment in the center of the town. 240 stands will be set on 50.000 square meters big arena.
All, who will have stands at the Church Day, either enterpreneurs or associations, will be obliged to register all their staff and – for the first time this year- to have cash register desks.
On Monday, July 31st there will be the Slovenian day at the event. AACC will be also this year at the disposal to the Villach Church Day.

The mutual research of Europol and Interpol showed, that in the times of the migrant crisis the smuggling is a billion business for terrorist networks and for the organised criminal. According to the evaluation of both mentioned organizations on their way to Europe migrants paid only in the last year to smugglers between 5 and 6 billions EUR. More than 90% of migrants came to Europe with the assistance of the organised criminal against paying the amount up to 6 000 EUR per person. . We can presume that the smuggling of the migrants is an international business model, in which people from more than 100 European and non-European countries are participating. The international police authorities are warning , that the decrease of the migrant figures does not automatically mean also the decrease of the smuggling of the migrants. We can expect, that in the future the number of the people , wanting to come to Europe, will increase again. In this moment only in Libya there are more that 800 000 migrants waiting for the transport to Europe.

At the occasion of the Europe Day , which will be on May 8th, the Carinthian Government publicated on its website some interesting information regarding Carinthia in the European Union.
From 2007 to 2013 Carinthia received referred to agricultural initiatives 694,4 millions Euro, for cross-border projects additionally 23,8 millions Euro, further for support of economy 67,4 millions Euro and 20,5 millions Euro more for measures against unemployment and poverty.
The above mentioned are initiatives from the so called » structural funds », which were given from the side of the Union to Austria as co-financing. These amounts were then split to federal units and spent by different subjects in Carinthia.
The EU budget ( more years financial frame from December 12th, 2013 ) is in total 908 billions Euro.

The important Carinthian artist Valentin Oman received the Great Golden Honorary Award from the Country Governor Peter Kaiser and his deputy Gaby Schaunig. Numerous important guests, among them also Oman's wife Elisabeth, were present at the award ceremony.
Valentin Oman was born on December 14th, 1935 in St. Stefan near Villach, he finished secondary school in Tanzenberg, studied at the University of Vienna and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana.
Among his numerous masterpieces are the artistic decoration of The Slovenian Gymnasium in Klagenfurt and as well the wall paintings and the Piran's crossway in the Tanzenberg Church. Oman is also a Honorary Doctor of the University in Klagenfurt and a corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
He lives and works in Vienna and Finkenstein.

Experts expect higher costs and prices as well as deadlock in the growth. The study of the Bertelsmann Foundation concluded that for EU losses in the amount of 470 billions Eur are to be expected, the end of Schengen would however cause negative economic effects also out of Europe.
„When the gates within Europe go down again, this means a big pressure for the humble growth in Europe. Finally the bill is paid by the people“, is the opinion of the Foundation. The basic point for actual calculations are time losses, which would be caused by the border controls of passenger traffic at the borders all over Europe.
The labour costs would increase, the stocks in warehouses should be bigger, a price pressure would be caused. Eventually we are faced with higher prices, lower demand for consumers' goods and decline in the international competitiveness. Investments shrink and finally the economic growth reduces.

At the celebration on January 23th, 2016, the President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor handed over the Award of merit to the President of ZSO dr. Marjan Sturm for the 60th anniversary of the Organisation.
Also the Minister dr. Josef Ostermayer, Minister Gorazd Žmavc and the Carinthian Governor dr. Peter Kaiser expressed their congratulations to dr. Sturm, who is leading this Association for 24 years.
Also the AACC is expressing its congratulations to Marjan Sturm, who is a member of the Board of the AACC. At the celebration the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik and the Vice-president mag. Zalka Kuchling were present, too.

This year's „European tolerance discussions„ will be held under the above moto in the Carinthian mountain village Fresach from April 11th to April 14th, 2016.
Beside the Austrian President numerous representatives from the world of politics, art and culture will be present. About 50 researchers, writers and artists will also this year lead the dialogue with the domestic inhabitants and will discuss the points, which cause movements all over Europe.
Manfred Sauer, the President of the Association and the main supervisor of the Evangelical church in Carinthia (on the photo the first from the right), is expecting from these discussions initiatives, which bring courage and solutions. „Herewith we are based on information, explanations and personal dialogue, verified elements, which are a remedy for prejuduce,“ concludes mag. Sauer.

The President of the Commission Jean-Claude Juncker stressed on his New year's press conference that the EU Commission would be also in the future concentrated on the growth and employment as its priority tasks. The first results of the investment offensive are noticable, 81000 small and medium size enterprises have already made profit on the basis of the initiative. Juncker is critical towards the implementation of the actual measures for controlling the migrants's crisis, especially towards the non realised relocation of 160000 refugees.
Additionally he stressed that EU Commission is decided to guarantee free movement of people and goods in the Schengen area. The actual, temporary controls for regulating the flow of the migrants among the European countries will cost EU up to 3 billions Eur.
Juncker is expecting the approval of the EU- reform proposals from the side of the United Kingdom till the end of this February.

Due to the price decrease of crude oil on the world markets the Russian Minister for Economy Alexej Uljakajew is considering to sell the biggest state owned banks, among them VTB and Sberbank. The Russian Minister of Finance also announced it would be necessary to decrease the non- essential expenditure for ten percents.

The look at the world market prices of fossil energy sources undoubtfully shows the serious Russian situation: the barrel ( 159 liters ) of crude oil WTI had on January 12th, 2016 the value less than 30 dollars.
The problem is in the fact that the Russian Federation gets a substantial part of its revenues from the business with oil and gas. This business is at the moment significantly influenced by falling prices.
The actual situation in Russia is described as serious, the budget deficit in 2015 was about 2,6 percents.

The European commission led in December 2015 47 trials against its members because of the violation of the contracts , which are a part of the European legal system. The majority of the trials refers to violations from the fields of financial stability, migration and interior matters.
Against Austria there are now two litigations before the European court.
One because of not considering the European laws about public tenders. The client was supposed to give orders for printing of official documents ( passports, driving licences) directly- without a tender- to a private company „Osterreichische Staatsdruckerei“. The second trial is referring to the EU laws about driving licenses, Austria was supposed to issue incorrect driving licenses to some truck and bus drivers.

The goal is a common tourist product

The mayors and the head teachers of the elementary schools from municipalities Globasnitz, Zell Pfarre, Jezersko, Predvor, Tržič and Šenčur had a meeting in Jezersko and Preddvor and agreed upon concrete cooperation on various fields. The elementary schools will have a reunion already next April  in Šenčur. The mayors agreed to establish the cross border cooperation so that a mutual calendar of interesting events would be prepared and would be available to all citizens. The main priority however is the cooperation in tourist sector where a mutual project/ product should be formed, also in connection with a possible financing from the side of EU.

The Carinthian Coalition is presenting the reform of the constitution. Slovenian national minority will be for the first time mentioned by its name in the new constitution. The reform foresees the abolition of the proportional system. Therefore smaller parties, elected in the country government, will have more rights.
This means that inthe future various majorities could be formed and it will not be obligatory that the strongest parties would be represented in the government. Long time the People's party (ÖVP) was against the naming of the Slovenian national minority, the Liberal Party is still against.
The last constitutional reform in Carinthia was in the seventies of the last century, the government coalition ( SPÖ, ÖVP and the Greens ) have two thirds of the majority.

Numerous cultural workers (among them also the attractive majorettes) from the Municipality Brda led by their Mayor Franc Mužič enriched in beautiful weather this year's Cheese Festival in Kotschach Mauthen. Filip Warasch from AACC was also present at the opening ceremony.

More than one third of EU citizens live and work in bordering regions. The European territorial cooperation is playing a significant role at removing obstacles on borders and at promoting cross border cooperation on the fields of safety, transport, building, energy, health, education and at assuring working places. 10 billions of Eur will be invested in interregional cooperation in the time period 2014-2020, out of which two thirds will be given to bordering regions. Recently made Eurobarometer – query on the the thema „General awareness and perception of EU regional politics“ showed that only one fifth of all citizens are aware, that EU regional funds were invested in these regions. The results of the query indicate that still a lot needs to be done in order to strengthen the awareness of Interreg programmes.

The Slovenian Ambassador in Vienna Dr. Andrej Rahten vistited together with the President of the AACC Bernard Sadovnik and the Financial advisor Stefan Lesjak the Mayor of the Municipality Brda Franc Mužic.

They agreed to organise the Festival of cherries – which is since some years a big success in Carinthia - with the assistance of the Slovenian Embassy next year also in Vienna. At this occasion the Municipality Brda will provide a special promotion at the reception of the Ambassador at the 25th anniversary of the Slovenian independance. The ham and wine from Brda will enrich this event.

Photo (from the left): Stefan Lesjak (AACC), Mayor Franc Mužič, Ambassador Franc Rahten, Director of the Institute Brda Tina Novak Samec, Bernard Sadovnik (AACC)

The Carinthian Governor Dr. Peter Kaiser was on July 20th, 2015 in Slovenia upon invitation of Dejan Židan, Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food. They discussed the possibilities to intensify cooperation between Slovenia and Carinthia on different fields, among others especially education and agriculture.
As mentioned, one of the main issues was education, therefore it is no surprise that Židan and Kaiser visited the Biotechnical School Center in Naklo.
The Governor Kaiser evaluated the Center as a »very positive surprise« and stated, that he is leaving »with very positive impressions«. As an example of the cooperation with Carinthia Židan mentioned the sector of complementary activities in agriculture.

The Carinthian State Counsellor Rolf Holub ( The Greens) presented
recently in Kranj to 27 Slovenian mayors from Gorenjska and Posočje regions and to numerous experts from the field of energy supply procurement the Carinthian strategic plan for energy- the energy masterplan.
As after the presentation Holub said , the municipalities from the above mentioned regions want to use the same concept as Carinthia, namely the energy supply procurement from the renewable energy sources (photovoltaics, water, wind, biomass).

Eurostat has informed that the total expenditure of EU countries in the last year was 6701 billions Eur. This is almost one half of the gross domestic product (48,1%) . In comparision to the past year it has gone down for 0,5%.
From these data it is evident that in 2013 among others 40,2% of expenditure refers on the field »social security«, 14,8% on »medical services« and 10,3% on »education«.
The tendency for 2014 is the conclusion that the expenditure in many EU countries went downwards, especially in Greece ( - 10.7%) and in Slovenia ( -9,9%), Austria shows with 52,30% a growth of 1,4%.

The Association of Carinthian Slovenians (SKS) granted this year's Kugy award to the Mayor of Brda Franc Mužič in the frame of the Municipality Brda holiday for his pioneer work in the field of the cross border and regional cooperation in the Alps Adriatic area.
The Mayor Mužič began to establish contacts with municipalities in Croatia, Italy and Austria immediately after his first election. In Carinthia Brda are closely connected with Bleiburg, Globasnitz, Friesach, Völkermarkt, Kötschach-Mauthen, Villach and Klagenfurt.

The Mayor Mužič is also a member of the Board of the AACC, Municipality Brda is its member for more than 10 years.
Franc Mužič is truely »a man of Alps-Adriatic area« and »an European« , said the President of the Association Bernard Sadovnik when giving the award to the Mayor Mužič.

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, postponed for June 10th, 2015 planned voting about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between EU and USA ( TTIP). We have already mentioned this topic on our webside. The most problematic subject in negotiations is the investment arbitration. There are 116 proposals for changes. Because of this fact the Committee on International Trade will discuss about TTIP again. TTIP should increase the growth and the employment in Europe and strengthen the world trade.

On Thursday, May 28th, take place a Festival of cherries in Klagenfurt - Neuer Platz. On Saturday before the Festival in Villach was organized and at last on Sunday, May 31th, take place the Festival of cherries in Čepiče in Globasnica.