ZAGREB, August 26, 2018 – Ethnic minorities do not deprive the Croatian state or the majority ethnic group of anything, they rather enrich them, minority representatives said at a roundtable discussion on ethnic minorities in the context of migrations and security in democratic societies, held as part of the Lipovljanski Susreti event, taking place in Lipovljani in Sisak-Moslavina County on August 24-26.
The event, organised by the National Minorities Council, consists of concerts and presentations of cultural and traditional customs of ethnic minorities living in Croatia.
Speaking of the possible impact of migration trends and the arrival of migrants on the status of ethnic minorities in Croatia, National Minorities Council chair Aleksandar Tolnauer said that the acquired level of rights of ethnic minorities might start to deteriorate.
Antonia Petričušić of the Zagreb Faculty of Law Department for Sociology and Law disagreed with Tolnauer, underscoring that the issue of ethnic minorities and policies regulating their rights were an internal matter of Croatia which could not be impacted by migration trends.
She warned that some social groups in Croatia attacked minority rights and that the incumbent government was failing to respond to that. In that context, the question of why democratic consolidation in Croatia has not happened over the past 20 years is of the utmost importance, she said.
The 9th Lipovljanski Susreti event is taking place under the auspices of President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić.
