New law on bilingual signs

The Austrian Constitutional Court published several new rulings which expand the list of towns and villages in the province of Carinthia that ought to have bilingual Slovenian-German signs.

According to the National Council of Carinthian Slovenians (NSKS), the new list includes towns which were not part of the relevant 1977 decree. The NSKS notes that the judges labelled the 1977 decree as illegal. Given that two towns included in an earlier court ruling of January should also be added to the list, the NSKS believes that last years proposal of the Austrian government to put up signs in 141 towns has finally been proven as unjustified. According to the NSKS, also missing three towns with appropriate constitutional court backing is the 2005 compromise proposal, known as the Karner proposal, under which bilingual place signs would be set up in 158 towns and villages in Austrias border province of Carinthia by 2010.