The establishment of the association was supported by more than 1,000 citizens, Glavas told reporters at a news conference in Osijek on Friday. He recalled that the proposal to establish the association was made in April this year.
Glavas said that the Movement for Slavonia and Baranja was established with the aim to carry out preparations for the establishment of the HDSSB.
He went on to say that the founding session of the association would be followed by the founding sessions of the association's branches in Slavonski Brod-Posavina County and other counties in the Slavonia region. This will be followed by the establishment of a federation of the associations to cover five Slavonian counties. Each county association will be independent, Glavas said, announcing the establishment of similar regional associations throughout Croatia.
The HDSSB will promote the interests of Slavonia and Baranja, the region which gave the biggest contribution to and suffered the most in the war and which today has the highest rate of unemployment and lowest living standards, Glavas said.
A regional approach to solving problems does not constitute advocacy of autonomy nor is it unconstitutional, Glavas said commenting on statements made by Parliament Vice-President Vladimir Seks during a visit to flooded areas of Slavonia on Thursday.
Seks's concern about those areas is false because it was Seks who rejected all amendments proposed by three parliamentary deputies from Osijek requesting equal treatment of all Croatian regions, with some of the amendments referring to protection against floods, Glavas said.
He also said that Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and what he called Sanader's yes-men had replaced around 40 people who supported the establishment of the regional association.