ZAGREB, January 23, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday received a delegation of the Croat minority community in Serbia to talk about their status as well as projects and programmes being implemented with the support of the Croatian government, with the Prime Minister saying that he hoped Serbia would fulfill its obligations, the government’s public relations office said in a press release.
Plenković spoke with the president of the Croat National Council in Serbia, Slaven Bačić, and the president of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina and Croat MP in the Serbian Assembly, Tomislav Žigmanov.
They welcomed the news that after many years, a meeting of the combined committee for monitoring the agreement on the protection of minorities signed with Serbia would finally meet again on 30 and 31 January 2018. Plenković underscored that the status of the Croat national minority is an important issue for the Croatian government and he expressed hope that Serbia would fully meet bilateral obligations.
These matters refer to the political representation of Croats at all levels, their cultural rights and education and information provided in the Croatian language and script.
Bačić and Žigman thanked the Prime Minister for the support and constant contact with Croatia’s most senior government officials and expressed satisfaction with the recent visit Croatia’s Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak paid to Subotica during a conference organised by the HNV marking the 15th anniversary of HNV’s first sitting in Serbia and the 15th anniversary of lessons in Croatian in Vojvodina and Serbia.
