PULA, Feb 12 (Hina) - A parliamentary deputy from the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milorad Pupovac, said at a news conference in Pula on Thursday that the Serb community, as the second largest community in Istria, should
have adequate political representation.
PULA, Feb 12 (Hina) - A parliamentary deputy from the Independent
Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milorad Pupovac, said at a news
conference in Pula on Thursday that the Serb community, as the second
largest community in Istria, should have adequate political
representation.#L#
According to the last census, around 10,000 Serbs live in Istria, and
5,000 of them live in Pula, Pupovac said, adding that the Serb
community should be more politically recognisable.
"Serbs need no longer hide behind other parties' lists, and enough
with the HDZ's, SDP's, IDS's or IDF's Serbs," Pupovac said.
Commenting on Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's strong condemnation of and
order to urgently investigate "the vandal act of setting fire to the
house of a Serb returnee in Zadar County", Pupovac said he had
expected Sanader to act the way he did. Reiterating that he was
confident of the possibility of cooperation with Sanader, Pupovac said
he would meet Sanader tomorrow to discuss joint actions to improve
inter-ethnic relations in the country so that Croatia could avoid
obstacles on its road to the EU.
Pupovac said he expected the prime minister and the government to take
measures so as to prevent new attacks on Serb returnees, which he said
had become common in the Zadar hinterland.
Speaking about cooperation with the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS),
whose policy of coexistence and protection of minority rights is
commended by Istrian Serbs, Pupovac said that the Serb representative
in the Pula City Council would not vote against the IDS because Serbs
appreciated the IDS's policy in the last decade.
(Hina) rml sb