President Pahor inaugurates Hidria technology park and appeals for tolerance

President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor today attended the opening of the new Hidria technology park in Koper. The President formally opened the technology park and addressed the audience. He expressed his delight to be able to attend such an important event and said that Hidria was "an example, a role model and an inspiration".

He stressed that, at a time that is certainly not most favourable for businesses, Hidria "showed that courage, vision and a responsible attitude to employees and the environment may lead to the stars".


Hidria has become one of the world’s leaders in the field of green mobility and sustainable living buildings. Furthermore, the car parts department has developed into one of the Europe’s leading producers of key elements for steering-wheel systems. One out of six cars produced in Europe contains parts produced in Koper.

Hidria’s goal is to put the Koper technology park on the European map as a key producer of innovative solutions. In his address, President Pahor stressed that Hidria invests a large part of its profits into research and development and is also very attentive to the needs of its employees and the environment. "The best words to describe this company are all superlatives," added the President, wishing every success to the new technology park.

On the occasion of the opening of the Hidria technology park in Koper, President Pahor also touched upon the outbursts of intolerance we have been witnessing in recent weeks and appealed to reason, tolerance and refraining from any action or statement that could be understood as insulting, adding that anyone who makes a public appearance should be aware of the possible consequences of his or her statements and actions.

Already in the past, he reminded us, he had spoken of the danger of the emergence of intolerance in the language of politics and of the risk that such intolerance could escalate into hate speech; "We have, unfortunately, witnessed this in the actions and statements of these past weeks," he noted.

So far, notwithstanding the current crisis, a basic political tolerance has existed which has enabled us to achieve results such as today’s opening of the technology park, the President noted, stressing that "if now, in this time of crisis, we are witnesses to deepening distrust, intolerance, hate speech and eventually sporadic violence, events like today’s will no longer be possible".

The President therefore called upon all to act with reason and tolerance and to refrain from any action or statement that could be taken as an insult: "Let us say or do only that which we would like to hear from others or would like to see others do that is for the public good.." The President added that this was not the time to deepen mutual differences which, in a democratic society, are "legitimate and need to be respected and handled with care ".

He also touched upon the meeting with parliamentary party leaders convened for Thursday and said that it "filled [him] with cautious optimism", stressing that within the limits of his competence he would do "everything possible to get Slovenia through this time of increased political volatility with a political agreement on the crucial measures that will ensure basic stability for the country".

President Pahor concluded his address by mentioning the meeting with representatives of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts to be held on Friday, and expressed his hope that the process "when all intellectual forces in this country" unite to "create a vision of the future of Slovenia" may shortly begin.