"It is obvious that there are two parallel policies in the Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Reconstruction and Development, and that the offices and the Directorate for Displaced Persons are not listening to their minister but some other centres of power," SDSS vice-president Milorad Pupovac told a press conference in the Parliament building.
Asked to specify which centres of power he meant, Pupovac said: "There are indications that some local church officials are more powerful than government institutions and that they don't want to come to terms with the policy of return and that all people in Croatia should have equal status."
"One may think that one should go to the Vatican to negotiate on bringing order to Croatia," he added.
Pupovac said that people were being evicted from apartments in which they had lived for decades and which they had never abandoned, despite the agreement with the government that they should be given the status of privileged tenants.
People had to move out of their homes with the explanation that their buildings were being repaired. They were not allowed to return, while their apartments were allocated to other people, he said.
SDSS president Vojislav Stanimirovic said that it was explained to the evicted Serbs that they were not entitled to housing under the government housing programme because they had other property in Croatia or in other countries that emerged after the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Stanimirovic said that at the same time housing was being provided for Croat refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina who own property in that country, adding that the purpose of this was to change the ethnic structure in Vukovar.
The SDSS leaders said they were willing to give Minister Bozidar Kalmeta time to bring order to this area given the fact that he had recently appointed a new person to run the Directorate for Displaced Persons who they said was trying to correct the omissions.