"This should change," Pupovac said at a meeting of the Council for National Minorities, which discussed the return of refugees and displaced persons, the restitution of property, and reconstruction.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Commission.
Pupovac said that illegally occupied private property continued to be devastated, that the current occupants were given precedence over the rightful owners and enjoyed protection from government institutions.
He blamed such a situation on the competent departments of the ministries of development and justice and on courts of law, which he said were not doing their job.
Pupovac cited a case of physical assault on an old man in the village of Jagoda Donja last Saturday, saying that the police had done their job, but that the competent court in Benkovac had seen no reason to bring charges against the attacker.
Another SDSS member, Ratko Gajica, also said he was unhappy with the process of refugee return, adding that the slow pace of the process was due to a recommendation by the Public Prosecutor that temporary occupants should not leave occupied houses until provided with alternative accommodation.
Gajic said that progress had been made in the housing reconstruction process and that people were satisfied with it.
Marko Brajko, adviser to the Minister of Development, said that Croatia had rebuilt about 129,000 housing units damaged during the 1991-1995 war, which cost around 14 billion kuna. Reconstruction of about 10,500 houses and apartments is planned for this year.
Brajko said that 11,300 applications for housing reconstruction had been received by the end of September, when the deadline for the submission of applications expired, and that an additional 1,000 or 2,000 applications could be expected to be filed through diplomatic channels.
Pupovac, however, believes that the number of applications for housing reconstruction would exceed 15,000.
The Council voiced its dissatisfaction over the fact that none of the government officials in charge of property restitution showed up at the meeting.
Council member Semso Tankovic drew attention to the problem of Bosniaks in the towns of Slunj, Cetingrad and Vojnic where they accounted for ten per cent of the population in 1991. These people in the meantime have been declared foreigners and cannot exercise their rights as returnees, he said.
The Council agreed that 10.6 per cent more funds should be demanded for financing minority programmes from the national budget for next year. This year's budget provided for 22 million kuna for minority programmes and the Council would demand 24.5 million from the 2005 budget.
The Council supported a proposal for the programming of ten minority-oriented radio stations to be co-funded with a total of 154,000 kuna.
(1 euro = 7.5 kuna)