“Prime Minister Orban travels to Ljubljana from Brussels today, to attend and speak at a state celebration honouring the 30th anniversary of Slovenian statehood, ahead of Slovenia’s Presidency of the European Council,” Zoltan Kovacs, the State Secretary of the Hungarian Government for International Communication and Relations wrote on Twitter on Friday morning. In addition to Orban, the national celebration was also attended by Sebastian Kurz, Andrej Plenković, Charles Michel, Luigi di Maio and Augusto Santos Silva.
A few days before Statehood Day, the government unveiled the programme and a list of performers and guests at the national celebration on the 30th anniversary of independent Slovenia. The first speaker at the celebration was the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, and the Prime Ministers of our neighbouring countries – Viktor Orban, Andrej Plenković and Sebastian Kurz – also gave welcome speeches. They were also joined by the Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio and the Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva.
In the second part of the celebration, the President of the European Council Charles Michel, and the Prime Minister Janez Janša addressed the gathered crowd as part of the symbolic handover of the Presidency of the European Council.
The cultural and artistic part of the celebration featured the following performers: tenor Aljaž Vesel, the mixed choir Crescendo with choirmaster Žiga Kert, RTV Slovenia Big Band, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Police Orchestra, Slovenian Army Orchestra, Slovenian Octet, Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana with the choreographer Renata Zanella, dancers of the Dance Club Mojca with the choreographer Mojca Horvat, folklore group Tina Rožanc, Marcos and Bernarda Fink Inzko, Vladimir Mlinarič, Women’s tercet M.J.A.V., Darja Gajšek, Enrestina Jošt, Tilen Lotrič and Gregor Ravnik. As a prelude to Slovenia’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Zdravljica, a movie directed by Mitja Okorn, was also premiered at the ceremony. The screenwriter of the ceremony was Igor Pirkovič, and the stage director was Roman Končar.
Sara Kovač
