Celebrating minority voices: Highlights from the MIDAS General Assembly 2025

This year’s MIDAS General Assembly took place in the twin towns of Nova Gorica and Gorica/Gorizia, located on the Slovenian-Italian border. The venue was chosen not only for its symbolic location but also because the region has been named European Capital of Culture 2025. Against this backdrop, the European Association of Daily Newspapers in Minority and Regional Languages celebrated two distinguished journalists for their contributions to media in minority languages.

One of the highlights was the award ceremony for Urtzi Urkizu Adrián, a veteran journalist of the Basque-language daily Berria. In his acceptance speech, Urkizu addressed the challenges facing minority language journalism today, concluding with a bertso – a traditional sung poem in Basque – performed within the historic Villa Vipolže, nestled in the hills of the Slovenian Karst near the Italian border.

‘These are bad times for diversity. I therefore call on the European institutions to support the media in minority and regional languages. Independent journalism in these media makes Europe richer, freer and more democratic,’ said Urkizu.

The newly elected MIDAS President, Martxelo Otamendi, praised Urkizu’s approach: ‘He shows particular sensitivity in his efforts to bring his readers closer to the reality of many media published in minority languages.’

Otamendi succeeds Edit Slezák, who had led the association since 2013. Along with Bojan Brezigar, former editor-in-chief of Primorski dnevnik, and Toni Ebner, former editor-in-chief of Dolomiten, she had been part of MIDAS since its foundation. All three stepped down from their roles in the Governing Board this year. During the General Assembly, Otamendi expressed the association’s gratitude for their long-standing dedication to minority language journalism.

The General Assembly also welcomed a new member: Åbo Underrättelser, a Swedish-language newspaper from Finland, was unanimously admitted to the association. Its editor-in-chief, Susanna Landor, attended the assembly in person to introduce the newspaper to the other members.

The Otto von Habsburg Prize was awarded to Milan Rakovac, an 84-year-old writer, poet, journalist and translator from Istria, now based in Zagreb. Much of his journalistic work is linked to Glas Istre, and his writing focuses on the multilingual and multicultural context of the northern Adriatic region, where Italian, Croatian and Slovenian coexist as native languages.

‘Rakovac writes about coexistence, multilingualism and intercultural identity; his work is primarily characterised by anti-fascism,’ said Igor Devetak, editor-in-chief of Primorski dnevnik, in his laudatory speech. The Slovenian-language newspaper, serving the Slovenian minority in Italy, hosted this year’s MIDAS conference.

‘Who still cares about small languages?’ asked Rakovac in his acceptance speech. ‘Only we ourselves. We are the last defenders of a unique European culture.’

The importance of linguistic diversity was also underlined by Karl von Habsburg in a written greeting delivered by MIDAS Secretary General Marc Röggla: ‘Language is part of our identity; it shapes the way we think. Those who speak or at least understand several languages will also find it easier to understand other peoples and cultures. But there is no denying that linguistic diversity is under pressure today, which is why the work of MIDAS is so crucial.’