ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - A final decision whether or not Istria County can put up bilingual plaques on official premises was almost requested from the International Court for Human Rights but in the end everything was resolved within
the country.
ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - A final decision whether or not Istria
County can put up bilingual plaques on official premises was almost
requested from the International Court for Human Rights but in the
end everything was resolved within the country. #L#
The official premises of the Istria County Assembly in Pazin will
carry a plaque in Italian together with another in Croatian, said an
announcement written last week to the Istrian County assembly by
Croatian Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic.
The decision to take down a plaque in Italian which stood next to
another in Croatian was passed five years ago by the Justice
Ministry. Namely, at the time, counties did not have the right to
bilingual signs, while towns and municipalities were entitled to it
where an ethnic minority made up at least half the population.
Bilingualism was approved for the county in 2000 with the adoption
of the Law on the Official Use of the Language and Script of National
Minorities. This meant that a bilingual plaque would be allowed on
official premises - or in this case, more than one plaque - but not
only a plaque in the minority language.
Last year the government adopted a regulation on the inscription on
plaques on premises owned by the government and local self-
government which prescribed that such premises could have only one
official plaque even if it is written in two languages.
(hina) sp ms sb