Judge Franz Boschitz, who handles cases in Slovenian in Bleiburg and Eisenkappel, will retire in April, and the Justice Ministry plans to open applications next week.
The Ferlach court is already without a Slovenian-speaking judge, as Hans Kogelnik, who replaced Tomi Partl, does not speak the language and relies on an interpreter.
This raises concerns about the future of bilingual proceedings in the region.