On Friday September 20th 2019 Mayor Dr. Aleksander Jevšek of Murska Sobota/SLO who is
currently presiding over Skupnost Občin Slovenije (SOS) – the Association of Municipalities
and Towns of Slovenia was visited by Thomas Pseiner, Secretary General of the Alps-
Adriatic-Alliance (AAA).
SOS represents Slovenia within the AAA-network and in the course of the meeting Dr.
Jevšek expressed the importance of the new strategy “SAA 2027” and his hope for even
bigger Alps-Adriatic-projects in the future. The mayor has also met the current president of
the AAA, Prefect Radimir Čačić of Varaždin County/CRO just recently, with whom he agrees
on the installation of an Alps-Adriatic NGO which is intended to prepare and implement such
bigger scale-projects in order to support the strategy. To foster the realization of such
projects, President Jevšek offered Murska Sobota to become the venue of an “Alps-Adriatic
Project Conference” in 2020, where concrete ideas should be developed. Challenges like
demographic or climate change affect all members of the AAA just the same. Therefore the
mayor expects no shortage in actual project initiatives.
Another very important topic of the meeting was the ongoing process of a possible
regionalization of the Republic of Slovenia. In comparison to all other AAA-members
Slovenia such an administrative level does not exist so far, beside the national ministries and
the municipalities. Mayor Dr. Jevšek, who is also a member of the Committee of the Regions
(CoR) has high expectations form this initiative, because it would finally make the Alps-
Adriatic truly part of a “Europe of Regions”.
Photo: © SOS