"Decisions on place names are sensitive and should not be used as a way of denying the role or contribution of important parts of society," OSCE Mission Chief Peter Semneby said. "We consider it important that all decision-makers exercise moderation in renaming places and streets," he added.
Semneby said that this week's decision by the Serb-majority Municipal Council of Plaski to rename a number of streets in the municipality raised the wider issue of how Croatia's multiethnic character and rich history should be reflected in the names of places and streets.
"Place and street names are important and sensitive, because they relate directly to the identity of those places and their inhabitants," he stressed.
The OSCE Mission hopes that all the main parties in the Plaski Municipal Council will together reconsider the whole issues of street names. "It is reasonable that the multiethnic and multicultural character of Plaski and similar towns should be reflected in the street names, but no action should be taken without careful consideration," it said.
The statement said that many names with Serb connotations had been changed throughout Croatia over the course of several years and that in some cases they had been replaced by names that the Serb community would find offensive.