Jože Antonič
The mayor of the Bled community, Slovenia.

When and how did you come to contacts with Carinthia and Carinthian Slovenes?

Antonič:
The roots of my family are extending just to Carinthia. My grandfather was born in Klagenfurt (Celovec), my grandmother in Sankt Veit in Jauntal (Šentvid v Podjuni). I established more contacts as a musician and longtime leader of the Alps quintet. We often appeared all over Carinthia and of course among Carinthian Slovenes. We got a lot of friends in both nations. We cherished these contacts for decades. As a politician I considered necessary to include the existing relations and contacts to intercommunity cooperation on partnership level.

What meaning does the partnership among communities in neighborhood countries have for you?

Antonič:
In year 2002 we signed the partnership document with the town community Villach (Beljak), with the mayor Helmut Manzenreiter. A lot of merit for this goes to musician and my friend Gerhard Lepuschitz. With town Villach we have very close contacts. In year 2003 we established contacts with long time acquaintances - Bernard Sadovnik, who had invited the Alps quintet to Southern Carinthia several times, with mag. Filip Warasch and mag. Štefan Lesjak, the committee member in the Velden community. As they visited our community office we also discussed possible partnership cooperation between the communities Bled and Velden. I was very enthusiastic about this proposal and in a very short time we invited the mayor of the borough community Velden Ferdinand Vouk to Bled. However, very important was the meeting at the headquarters of AACC (Alps-Adriatic Centre for Cross-border co-operation) where we continued the discussion and agreed upon the signature of the document about partnership cooperation between the two communities. We both then gave such proposal to the community committees. Both assemblies were - by coincidence - held on the same day and the partnership proposal was accepted with full approval. The partner town Villach enables our presentation at their traditional fair every year. The cooperation continues on various fields. The community Velden is very important for Bled, since both places are well-known tourist resorts, at home and internationally. In cooperation with AACC we prepared the presentation of tourist activity organization in the community Velden, we cooperate in sport and cultural area, too. However, the most important are the human and personal relations. With the mayor Ferdinand Vouk we meet regularly, one time here in Bled, the other time in Velden, in order to improve our contacts.

What are your wishes and expectations regarding your successor (he, she) for the community Bled which has since many years an active roll in cross-border co-operation?

Antonič:
I expect from my successor (he, she) that in the communities Bled and Gorje the initiated work will be continued. I also wish the communities remain in future the members of AACC and that they make full use of the services, which AACC can offer on various fields.