Autonomy is good both for the majority and the minority, say experts from South Tyrol

The Magyar Szív – Magyar Szó (Hungarian Heart – Hungarian Word) Foundation organised a conference in Budapest during which experts from the autonomous Italian region, South Tyrol, shared their experiences about their autonomy not only from a German but also from an Italian viewpoint. Afterwards, Hungarian politicians talked about the struggle for autonomy of the Hungarian communities living abroad. Everybody agreed that instead of undermining, territorial autonomies actually strengthen the cohesion of each country; therefore, the struggle for autonomy should not be considered as a threat to national security.

Peace instead of fight creates stability and economic prosperity

South Tyrol, an autonomous province in Northern Italy, had a total population of 530,000 inhabitants in 2018, out of which 62.3 pc speaks German, 23.4 pc Italian and 4.1 pc Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language. The province is granted a considerable level of self-governance, meaning a broad range of exclusive legislative and executive powers and a fiscal regime that allows it to retain a large part of most levied taxes while remaining a net contributor to the national budget. As of 2016, South Tyrol is

the wealthiest province in Italy

and among the wealthiest in the European Union.

Dr Oskar Peterlini, a former senator from South Tyrol to the national assembly in Rome, said that in the ’20s, ’30s and even after WWII, the Italian government tried to assimilate the German-speaking majority of the region. However, Rome was not successful because locals did not want to leave their ancestors’ land and insisted on keeping their mother-tongue. After long decades of struggle, including even terrorist attacks, in 1971, South Tyrol’s statute of autonomy was finally accepted by the Italian parliament and government.

According to Mr Petterlini, since then, there has been peace in the region, and pro-independence political forces are weak, forming only a small minority in the local parliament.

If the EU existed, then South Tyrol would not have become autonomous

Dr Davide Zaffi, an Italian member of South Tyrol’s office for ethnic minorities, highlighted that, before the acceptance of the region’s statute of autonomy, many Italians were afraid of being oppressed by the German majority of the autonomous region. However, this did not happen, and