On 3 April 2023, Ombudsman Peter Svetina received representatives of the German-speaking ethnic community in Slovenia – namely Urška Kop, the new head of the Umbrella Organisation of Cultural Associations of the German-Speaking Community in Slovenia, Jan Schaller, head of the Cultural Associations of Gottscheers and Styrian people in Slovenia, and Veronika Haring, head of the Mostovi Maribor Cultural Association of German-Speaking Women. The guests informed the Ombudsman about their long-standing efforts for the recognition of national communities under Article 64 of the Constitution and their call to the various authorities to implement the European Charter on Regional Minority Languages in places populated by ethnic minorities.

Representatives of the ethnic minority expect that the status of the German-speaking community in Slovenia will finally be regulated. They also want to be able to take an active part in regulating the legal status of the German-speaking community in Slovenia. The guests also informed the Ombudsman that they had prepared a publication discussing equating the legal status of the German-speaking community with those of the Italian and Hungarian minorities (Slovenian title: Pravna enakopravnost nemško govoreče narodne skupnosti v Sloveniji z italijansko in madžarsko narodno skupnostjo), which could serve as a basis for reflection on possible solutions. He was also informed that the provisions of the cultural agreement on cooperation in the fields of culture, education, and science, signed between Slovenia and Austria in 2002, are not being implemented.

In its Fifth Opinion on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Slovenia, published in September 2022, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention called on Slovenian authorities to strengthen the legal protection of the German-speaking ethnic minority and new ethnic minorities and to consider giving them access to constitutionally protected minority rights and extending the full application of the Framework Convention to persons belonging to these communities.

At the meeting, Ombudsman Peter Svetina stressed that the regulation of the special rights of ethnic minorities is first and foremost a political issue, but that it should be addressed. The Ombudsman's institution has repeatedly drawn the attention of the competent state authorities to the need to define the requirements for recognition of the (special) status of minorities, as early as in 2003 and also in 2007. The Ombudsman expects the authorities to engage in an appropriate dialogue with the representatives and will also take a close look at some of the issues raised at today's meeting.