Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Stier spoke at a conservative conference in Zagreb.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Davor Ivo Stier believes that it is important for Croatia to build a pluralistic society based on the values of dialogue and tolerance, and that all people can participate in that process and that all ideas can be considered, reports Večernji List on October 25, 2016.
Stier presented his views on Monday evening in Zagreb during the first TradFest – festival of traditions and conservative ideas which is organized by the Vigilare Foundation.
After his speech, Stier answered several questions from journalists, and said that he had received the invitation to participate at the event while he was still a Member of European Parliament and had accepted it back then, but added that he saw no reason why he should not participate now, although he has become Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the meantime.
“I believe in a Christian democracy, we must emphasize rights and tolerance, but also that people can express their Christian beliefs in public without fear”, said Stier. He added that there was a balance between religious and secular in Croatia, that the Church was separated from the state, but also that it is important to note that being a secular state does not mean that faith cannot be public, since religious communities are generators of solidarity in a society.
For Stier it is important that everyone can express their opinion in the atmosphere of tolerance, which includes the right of Christians to express their beliefs in public.
Asked by reporters about the fact that Vice Batarelo, president of the Vigilare Foundation, during the conference publicly criticized Croatian politicians who declare themselves as Christians but do not support the ban on abortion and changes to legal provisions in this regard, Deputy Prime Minister Stier said that it was a known fact that the focus of this government was not on a debate about changing the laws regarding abortion rights. He said that the issue was “now perhaps under the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court”, alluding to the fact that it is expected that the Constitutional Court might soon rule on the constitutionality of abortion.
He pointed out that personally and as a member of Parliament he “would not have voted for such laws”, however, they do exist today and it is up to the Constitutional Court to make a decision”. He reiterated that, as far as government’s activities are concerned, the focus was not on legislative changes in the laws on the right to abortion, but that, through education and different policies, it plans to promotes life and its protection from the very conception.
