ZAGREB, March 1 , 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that the recommendations adopted by the council for dealing with the consequences of undemocratic regimes on how to treat insignia of totalitarian regimes “is a valuable, well-balanced and useful document”, which could serve as the starting point for the continuation of dialogue of that topic.
Following these recommendations, the government will, accordingly, adopt its decisions at the time it finds to be appropriate, Plenković said. The document compiled by the 17-member council “is a contribution which we have not had to date in the Croatian public,” Plenković said. Thanking the council for its efforts, Plenković commended its members – political scientists, lawyers and jurists – for their intensified, substantiated and prudent dialogue that resulted in the document.
The document consists of two parts, and the first part is the starting point and description about the experiences of the Croatian society in the 20th century when the country was faced with totalitarian regimes. The government will consider this particularly for activities in connection with education of young generations about those regimes and their repercussions for the society and divisions in the Croatian society, he said. The second part of the document refers to possibilities of improvement of the legal framework. The Justice Ministry and the Public Administration Ministry will consider those recommendations, Plenković said.
Plenković finds it essential that the document clearly condemns totalitarian regimes including the 1941-1945 Nazi-style Ustasha regime, Nazism, Fascist regime and Chetnik movement. He underlined that the recommendations also note that the “For the Homeland Ready” salute had an anti-constitutional character. The salute could only be allowed in the future in exceptional situations and very restrictively, he said in connection with the council’s suggestion that the salute can be used only for commemorative purposes for slain members of Croatian Defence Forces (HOS), the armed wing of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) during the Homeland War.
