JOSIP VILFAN V PRVEM DESETLETJU PANEVROPSKEGA GIBANJA.

Quite a few important Slovene politicians joined the Paneuropean Movement of Count Richard Nikolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi, established in Vienna in the early 1920s. This paper deals mainly with the role of Josip Vilfan, the leading political figure of the Slovene minority in the Fascist Italy and President of the Congress of European Nationalities, within the Paneuropean Union of Coudenhove-Kalergi. Together with Anton Korošec, the leading Slovene politician in Yugoslavia at the time, Vilfan also attended the 1st Congress of the Paneuropean Union in Vienna in October 1926 with representatives from 24 nations. In his paper, written upon personal invitation of Coudenhove-Kalergi, Vilfan described the establishment and initial activities of the Congress of European Nationalities. The Paneuropean Movement was very active in the Interwar-Yugoslavia. The Slovene press welcomed the announcement of the European federation that Aristide Briand drafted in 1930 at the request of the League of Nations. Briand was appointed Honorary President of the Paneuropean Union, and one of the consequences of his initiative was the establishment of the Yugoslav section of the Paneuropean Union, headed by Momčilo Ninčić, former foreign minister of Yugoslavia. The Slovene press covered the sway of Paneuropean Movement with outstanding attention. In October 1932, for example, the leading newspaper Slovenec published a series of articles on the 3rd Congress of the Paneuropean Union in Basel, which Vilfan also attended. However, his role was not so prominent as envisaged initially by Coudenhove-Kalergi. Reading Vilfan's letters to Coudenhove-Kalergi, one gets the impression that Vilfan was not ready to intensify relations between the Paneuropean Union and the Congress of European Nationalities. The expansion of the totalitarian regimes on the eve of the Second World War suppressed the activities of both organizations. In Hitler's "New Order" in Europe, there was no room for the Paneuropean cooperation based on the pr otection of minority rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]