Dear Special Rapporteur Fernand de Varennes, dear honourable guests, dear colleagues, first of all, I would like to thank you for the kind invitation. In my capacity as President of the Autonomous Province of Bozen/South Tyrol, it is an honour and a pleasure to present in this occasion South Tyrol’s autonomy as a best practice. South Tyrol is the northernmost province in Italy and is situated in the centre of Europe. Today we are one of the richest regions in Europe. Daily life in South Tyrol is constantly influenced by its autonomy. In schools, administration, judiciary, and toponomy – anywhere you encounter linguistic and cultural diversity and selfgovernance. Today, South Tyrol is characterised by the peaceful cohabitation of the German, Italian and Ladin language groups and South Tyrol’s autonomy is considered one of the most successful power-sharing arrangements in the world, thanks to its far-reaching powers and implementation mechanism. This has not always been the case. South Tyrol looks back at a troubled history. At the beginning of the twentieth century, South Tyrol was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until being annexed by Italy, following the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain. After the Fascists came to power in 1922, South Tyrol underwent an intensive ‘Italianisation’ process including the prohibition of German-language schools and the German language. In 1939, Hitler and Mussolini forced the South Tyroleans to choose between staying in their homeland, but giving up their culture and language, or emigrating to the “German Reich”. After a fierce propaganda campaign, about 86 per cent of South Tyroleans decided to leave. About 75,000 people emigrated, but the beginning of the Second World War stopped the emigration. After World War II, the so-called ‘Gruber-De Gasperi Agreement’ between Italy and Austria guaranteed autonomous legislative and executive powers and regulations to safeguard the German minority. Nevertheless, the implementation was unsatisfying as South Tyrol was united