Dobernig, a member of the Carinthian Freedom Party (FPK) who serves as the finance minister in the local government, said on Saturday that the Slovenian community in the province were not "true Carinthians", a statement he later backtracked from according to the Austrian Press Agency (APA).

Dobernig also took aim at last year's bilingual town signs agreement, labelling it "a gateway drug" and adding that the Slovenian side had many more demands.

"Dobernig's statements do not have by support. I would like to apologise in all forms to the minority," Dörfler told the press on Monday. He stressed the town signs agreement was in no way under question.

But the governor was critical towards statements made by Slovenian ambassador to Vienna Aleksander Geržina, asking him to apologise over a comment that likened Dobernig's statements to a "mass movement that was successful in the 1930s".

"This formulation does not fit the customs of 2012," Dörfler was quoted as saying by the APA.