SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Kompatscher, South Tyrol has been part of Italy for 100 years. How does one celebrate such an anniversary as a South Tyrolean? Celebrate? Displace?

Arno Kompatscher: It's more a commemoration. When the Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed in 1919, the border was drawn without regard to ethnic-linguistic aspects: at the Brenner. Tyrol has been shared. Since then, the Tyrolean areas south of the Brenner belong to Italy. But we do not want to leave the date to the nationalists on both sides. They have an interest in reinterpreting the cause for their own purposes.

South Tyrol is hardly larger than the Lüneburg Heath, 500,000 inhabitants live there. The majority are German-speaking, but in the capital Bolzano the situation is reversed: 80 per cent of Italians live there. 35 million tourists stay in the province every year. The unemployment rate is less than three percent. The former poorhouse has become one of the richest regions in Europe.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The history of the past 100 years was often shaped by violence in South Tyrol. Italian fascism, German fascism. Later attacks and the struggle for autonomy. What does everyday life in South Tyrol look like today?

Kompatscher: We live together peacefully. In many places, there is an interaction between different cultures, in sports or in culture, for example.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But?

Kompatscher : There are also areas where things tend to be separate. In the village it is clearly different than in the city. The urban area is more Italian, the country rather Tyrolean. And yes, unfortunately, there are still groups that are nationalist minded and zündeln.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What does that mean?

Kompatscher: For example, when the German-speaking right-wing populists say that the Italians are only guests in South Tyrol who have to behave. The same is true of the Italian nationalists. The rightists understand that living together peacefully means that one ethnic group has to accept that the other ethnic group is in charge. But the majority of South Tyroleans really want to live together peacefully.

Eibner / imago

Kompatscher (left), (in Alpbach, Austria)

The "South Tyrol package", sealed in 1972, guaranteed South Tyrol far-reaching freedoms from Rome, with 90 percent of the tax revenue flowing back into the region. While numerous governments were sworn in Italy since 1945, there were exactly three changes of power in South Tyrol. Arno Kompatscher has been Governor since 2014.

SPIEGEL OLINE: In South Tyrol, public bodies are distributed according to language groups, children either go to a German or Italian school. Is that still up-to-date?

Kompatscher: It still needs the protection of minorities. This instrument may seem rigid at times, but it is the basis that makes everyone feel safe and not disadvantaged. It is the basis for the coming together. To see diversity not as a threat but as an added value. And to cross borders.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The Austrian government has recently revived the topic of Austrian-Italian citizenship for South Tyroleans. Why is this idea still getting caught?

Kompatscher: From a legal point of view, dual citizenship is not needed. At least not to better protect the German-speaking minority in Italy. But yes, for many people, such a double pass is the closest match to their identity. They are Italian citizens - for which they have a passport - and feel something different: namely the Tyrolean. There is no passport. A way out of the dilemma would be a European citizenship.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is not exactly the debate about the double-passport deeply anti-European?

Kompatscher: The goal is clearly a European citizenship. I am convinced that Europe has only one chance if we overcome national thinking and give up sovereignty. The answer is more Europe. In this respect, the double passport is a legitimate demand, if one sees him as a precursor to a European citizenship. And on the condition that it does not connect new borders or citizens of class A and B.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: In a few weeks the European elections take place. What significance does Europe have for the South Tyrol region?

Kompatscher: My predecessor, the legendary Governor Luis Durnwalder, told me that the biggest moment in his political life was when in April 1998 he was allowed to carry away the border bar at Brenner together with representatives of Austria and Italy. That was South Tyrol's moment. At that time it was seen that in 1969 it was the right decision to choose the sparrow, namely an autonomy of South Tyrol within Italy. ,

SPIEGEL ONLINE: ... You could say it was a stroke of luck. South Tyrol is today one of the richest regions of Europe - and the richest province of Italy ...

Kompatscher: The sparrow has become a swan. The protection of autonomy and of Europe has scared the South Tyroleans that one day they might be assimilated in the state of Italy. Europe has given us freedom of movement, the opportunity to study abroad, to work. If we South Tyroleans are not convinced Europeans, then who?

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How do you handle the fact that the Italian Vice Prime Minister in Rome, Lega boss Matteo Salvini, leaves no opportunity to rant against Europe?

Kompatscher: I criticize that publicly and directly. I have the opportunity, you know each other.

No party in Europe ruled longer than the conservative South Tyrolean People's Party SVP, even by an absolute majority until 2013. All the more remarkable was the result of the last provincial election: Only 41.9 percent took the SVP in the fall. In early 2019, the SVP entered into a coalition with the Lega.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Salvini's motto is "Prima gli Italiani", "Italia first". Does this not have to be understood by the South Tyrolean minority in Italy as a declaration of war?

Kompatscher: Even among German-speaking South Tyroleans, some have chosen the Lega. Salvini stages himself as the one who ensures law and order, which sends the foreigners out of the country, solving the migration issue. The message works throughout Europe. And at the moment Salvini succeeds. But he is a man of simple messages. He will disench himself.

Oreste Fiorenza / ROPI

Matteo Salvini (left) and Arno Kompatscher

SPIEGEL ONLINE: In the last provincial election in the fall of your party slipped off. They then joined the Lega decided European opponents in the government.

Kompatscher: Italians in South Tyrol have given their majority of votes to the Lega. I have to take note of that. Our constitution provides for the representation of all language groups in the government so that we had to form a coalition with the Lega. But I have made sure that not only is there a clear commitment to Europe in the government agreement.