ZAGREB, February 26, 2018 – Deputy Prime Minister Predrag Štromar said on Monday that his Croatian People’s Party (HNS), a junior member of the ruling coalition, had not changed its view on the Ustasha salute “For the homeland ready”, adding that there should be no place for it in public.
The council dealing with the consequences of the rule of undemocratic regimes should submit its recommendations to the government, including its views on the five-pointed red star and the Ustasha salute, by March 1.
“We will comment on the council’s recommendations after their publication, but the HNS’s position remains the same,” Štromar told the press when asked if a compromise solution was possible after a plaque commemorating members of the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS), the armed wing of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), killed in the 1991-1995 war, bearing the “For the homeland ready” salute, was relocated from Jasenovac, the site of a WWII concentration camp, to the nearby town of Novska.
“It is not acceptable to the HNS that the salute ‘For the homeland ready’ should be present anywhere or in any way in public,” Štromar said.
