ZAGREB, April 20, 2018 – The GLAS party on Friday informed that it had sent a motion into parliamentary procedure proposing the launching of negotiation procedures to amend the treaties between the Holy See and Croatia with the aim of protecting secular values which, this opposition party underscores, is a constitutional category.
GLAS leader Anka Mrak Taritaš told the news conference that, based on the Vatican Agreements, Croatia earmarked 900 million kuna a year for the Catholic Church, which was more than the allocations for the foreign and tourism ministries combined. Thus, over the past 20 years more than 15 billion kuna was set aside for the Church, she said.
She describes all four agreements as unilateral because they regulate Croatia’s obligations but do not do the same for the Holy See.
This opposition politician remarked that this was the first time that an initiative of this nature had been forwarded to parliament and noted Italy’s example that managed to amend its agreements through negotiations with the Holy See, including abolishing religious instructions in public schools.
If the Italian model was to be applied in Croatia, the allocations for the Catholic Church would be reduced to about 576 million kuna a year, she noted.
