Discontent among the Serb minority in Croatia.
“There is growing discontent among members of the Serbian national minority with the way SDSS is trying to solve the problems of Serbs in Croatia. Their activities usually have only one goal, which is to protect the position of certain individuals within the party and to maintain financing of certain organizations, such as the Serbian National Council. This would not be such a problem if the money that these organizations receive would reach the Serbs in local communities, but that is not happening. SDSS has betrayed the expectations of Serbs in Croatia and the party has been additionally compromised with its behaviour after the recent parliamentary elections, its decisions about whom it would support and by everything which happened concerning its former member and a newly-elected Member of Parliament Mirko Rašković”, says Srđan Milaković, Deputy Mayor of Vukovar, who was excluded from SDSS prior to the parliamentary elections, reports Vecernji List on February 7, 2016.
The reason for the exclusion was his decision to be a candidate on a separate non-party list. Milaković issued a public statement today after a meeting of holders of political offices from those parts of Croatia where significant number of Serbs live. Milaković says that representatives from those regions expressed their unanimous intention to urgently create a new political platform which would be a basis for better protection of rights and interests of Serbs in Croatia. According to Milaković, the meeting was attended by Deputy Prefects of Karlovac and Požega-Slavonia County, Deputy Mayors of Vukovar, Beli Manastir and Pakrac, and Mayor of Trpinja Municipality in Vukovar-Srijem County.
“We are aware that, if we want to change the current situation, we have to organize ourselves politically and now it is only a matter of time when we will do that. The creation of a new Serbian political party in Croatia would also mean that some of the smaller Serbian political parties in local communities would cease to exist. However, the formation of a new political national party of Serbs in Croatia must happen as soon as possible so that the party could prepare itself for the local elections next year, as well as for possible new parliamentary elections”, says Milaković.
