ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - A discussion in parliament on Thursday about a constitutional bill on national minorities began with a fierce statement by Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), who claimed "Croatia has resolved
the issue of minorities very effectively by decreasing minorities by 70 percent in the past ten years". Parliament's president reprimanded him for insulting the Croatian people.
ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - A discussion in parliament on Thursday about
a constitutional bill on national minorities began with a fierce
statement by Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS),
who claimed "Croatia has resolved the issue of minorities very
effectively by decreasing minorities by 70 percent in the past ten
years". Parliament's president reprimanded him for insulting the
Croatian people. #L#
Speaking on behalf of the IDS bench, Kajin advocated that
minorities should be given double voting rights. He made the
contentious statement speaking of the political shots traded over
this demand by minority MPs.
He explained that without having their own MP, minorities will be
marginalised and stagnate. If they are given the right to vote for
their own minority MPs they should not be restricted from voting for
MPs on mainstream political lists, he said.
Kajin asked those who opposed double voting rights what they were
afraid of.
He emphasised that Croatia had "finally and effectively resolved
its minority question" because statistics showed that since 1991
the number of members of national minorities had decreased from
900,000 to 300,000, but that no one spoke about this in Croatia.
Kajin said that of 168,000 Serbs listed in Croatia only 12,000
decided to vote for their MP in a separate constituency, and that
the remaining four MPs for national minorities were elected by
30,000-35,000 minority votes. He concluded that nothing dramatic
would occur if minorities were given double voting rights.
Kajin believes the attitude of Croatia's citizens towards
minorities was also questionable. He stated surveys indicated that
"every fourth citizen would expel Serbs or Bosnian Muslims from
Croatia".
He added the Serb community was living under the consequences of the
war as refugees and unable to return. The question of returns and
overcoming the feeling of scorn will not be resolved by either a
constitutional nor an electoral law, he said.
Parliament president Zlatko Tomcic reprimanded Kajin, describing
his speech as unfair. Tomcic asked that MPs refrain from objecting
to Kajin's claims so that the discussion on the bill could
continue.
(hina) sp/ha sb