VUKOVAR MAYOR COMMENTS ON SIMONIC'S SUPPORT TO VIMIO'S PROJECT

VUKOVAR, Aug 28 (Hina) - Vukovar Mayor Vladimir Stengl issued an open letter on Thursday in response to deputy prime minister Ante Simonic's support which he expressed yesterday to a project, called 'Kindergarten' referring to a multiethnic kindergarten, of the VIMIO institute for peace research and education in that eastern Croatian city. #L# "We are unpleasantly surprised at the fact that you have supported VIMIO's project, as we believe that you are acquainted with the fact that there is an existent pre-school education system comprising two kindergartens in Vukovar. We wonder why all children in Vukovar should not be given a possibility of being taught in the English language, or perhaps this is only a manner to make it possible for ethnic Serb children to avoid attending pre-school programmes in Croatian," Stengl wrote in the open letter. He added that it was pointless to comment on the fact that Wednesday's talks between Simonic and VIMIO representatives on the said project were held behind closed doors and that city authorities were excluded from that discussion. The VIMIO executive director, Biljana Kondic, was surprised to learn of Vukovar mayor's reaction and open letter. "Our project 'Kindergarten' does not mean the set-up of any new institution. The idea is to enable not only children from minorities but also all kids to be taught in line with programmes in English and German," Kondic said adding that the project has not yet taken shape, and the institute is now only examining whether there is any interest in it and whether the society is ready for something like that. (hina) ms