CROATIAN PARTIES COMMENT ON ISTRIA COUNTY STATUTE

ZAGREB, April 10 (Hina) - Leaders of Croatian political parties have commented differently on the Statute of Istria County, adopted on Monday, which introduces bilingualism i.e. equal use of the Italian and Croatian languages throughout the county. Government spokeswoman Aleksandra Kolaric said the government would voice its stand on the statute after the legal procedure was completed and the statute submitted to the Justice Ministry, the submission deadline being eight days from the adoption of the statute. Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) president Drazen Budisa said he was not familiar with the content of the statute, but it was questionable if the document was in accordance with the Constitution and the Law on the Use of Minority Languages and Scripts. Budisa believes every national minority in Croatia should be able to feel good and exercise its rights in line with international conventions on minority rights, but this should not be to the detriment of the majority people. Budisa believes the initiative of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) would not improve the status of the Italian minority in Istria but cause political disputes and conflicts detrimental to all. Despite IDS's claim that all changes to the statute are in line with the Constitution, many claim that Istria County's granting itself a special status and rights which are not exercised by other counties is unconstitutional, says Zdravko Tomac, Sabor's Deputy Speaker from the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Tomac believes the IDS has started an unfair election campaign with this move and that it is trying to provoke a conflict with the new authority which allegedly lacks understanding for the needs of Istria County, is xenophobic and cannot understand Istrian Europeans. The Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) is concerned about IDS's decision and the "lukewarm reaction of the Government." The minimum we expected from the Government was to say that the constitutionality of the decision on changing the Istria County Statute would be investigated, HSP secretary Vlado Jukic said. Liberal Party (LS) president Zlatko Kramaric believes the change is a European standard and entirely in accordance with positive Croatian laws, i.e. the Constitution. The decision also respects tradition because a large part of Istria is bilingual, Kramaric says wondering how Croatia can expect other countries to respects the rights of their Croat minority if it is not willing to accept it itself. The Democratic Centre (DC) believes the adoption of the Statute would cause new rifts on the Croatian political scene, says DC president Mate Granic. It is particularly bad that the Statute was adopted in a pre-election period and without a broad public debate and assessment of constitutionality, which is rather questionable, he said. Vesna Pusic, president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), said she would not comment on the adoption of the Statute until she had studied it. The Association for the Promotion of Croatian Identity and Prosperity (HIP) believes IDS's decision is not only a pre-election manoeuvre "motivated by basic political interests" but a first step toward Istria's autonomy and Croatia's organisation as a federal state. (hina) sb rml