On Thursday, 11 July 2024, a focus group on the analysis of needs and good practices in the multilingual operation of the public administration (P.A.) was held at Gravisi-Buttorai Palace in Koper, in the framework of the project CrossTerm - Crossborder standardisation of institutional terminology, co-funded by the European Union under the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Programme.
The focus group was attended by representatives of some public institutions operating in the bilingual area (Municipality of Piran, Municipality of Izola, Municipality of Koper, Municipality of Ankaran, Administrative Unit of Koper, Employment Office, Court of Koper, University of Primorska). The meeting was aimed at discussing the difficulties in implementing bilingualism in the public administration and at finding possible solutions. The focus group was organised by the Coastal Self-Governing Community of Italian Nationality in cooperation with the Koper Scientific Research Centre.
The participants highlighted the lack of resources and translators within each institution and called attention to the absence of methods and strategies for testing the knowledge of the Italian language. At the same time, participants also pointed to the lack of sensitivity of the competent institutions to the issue of bilingualism.
At the end of the meeting, the participants suggested solutions to improve the quality of services in the Italian language. They identified the need to set up a network to promote cooperation between institutions in the public administration and to provide a "responsible person for bilingualism” for each institution to closely monitor this area.
