CROATIAN DEPUTY MINISTER MEETS BURGENLAND CROATS

ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader on Thursday visited the Burgenland Croats' Institute of Science in Eisenstadt, Austria. Sanader held talks with Agnjica Cenar-Schuster and her associates, who informed him of the Institute's activities, the Croatian Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday. The Croatian official then held a working meeting with representatives of Croat associations from Burgenland and Vienna, who also acquainted him with their work and problems they were encountering. The minority status of Burgenland Croats, one of the oldest Croat emigration groups, is regulated in Austria by Article 7 of the State Agreement of 1955 and a special law on ethnic groups from 1976. Burgenland Croats today live in about 30 towns in Burgenland and in Vienna. They are organised in cultural societies and centres. Burgenland Croats expressed satisfaction with the work of bilingual schools and day-care centres as well as with a Croat- Hungarian grammar school in Oberwart, opened several years ago. They also informed Sanader about problems, such as the lack of funds, the setting up of bilingual signs in towns were Burgenland Croats represent a majority and the lack of adequate facilities where they could present their language and culture. (hina) rml