ZAGREB, July 16, 2019 – The Vukovar branch of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) said on Monday that no one can be above decisions of the Constitutional Court and also criticise Mayor Ivan Penva for “collectivising the guilt of all Serbs in Vukovar” which they cannot accept.
Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava said on Sunday that dialogue and cooperation among local residents and ethnic Serbs in that eastern Croatian town was at a satisfactory level and any increase in the volume of rights of that ethnic minority would deteriorate the relations among local communities. Penava underscores that the first priority is to solve the problems caused in that town in 1991 when the area fell into the hands of Serb rebels supported by the then Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA). “We cannot forget and ignore the huge injustice inflicted to us in 1991.”
Penava’s statement ensued after Constitutional Court President Miroslav Šeparović told a news conference this past Friday that the court recommended that the city council in Vukovar adopt changes to their statute whereby Serb councillors can ask now also orally for the delivery of documents and papers in their mother tongue and in the Cyrillic script. Currently, the request has be submitted in a written form.
The Council is given a deadline until October to make those changes and adopt other necessary decisions that will enhance the Serb minority’s right to use its language and script.
Penava insists that the current state of affairs in Vukovar “has not ripened” for steps forward in any direction
The SDSS says in its latest press release that local Serbs cannot renounce their rights which they exercise in compliance with the Constitution.
We expect the implementation of our rights in accordance with laws, the local SDSS says in its press release.
On the other hand, the Croatian Conservative Party (HKS) said that any enhancement of the rights of the local Serb community in the town of Vukovar “opens a Pandoara’s box”.
More Vukovar news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
