The EUR 550,000 project called "Croskat (Croats in Slovakia and Austria) will have been implemented by the beginning of 2013. Apart from the EU funds, the authorities of the Austrian province of Burgenland will also support the project aimed at establishing an education centre for ethnic Croats in Bratislava and promoting partnership between towns populated by ethnic Croats.
Martin Ivancsics, the head of the Croatian cultural and documentation centre outlined this cross-border project at a news conference in Eisenstadt, eastern Austria, on Wednesday.
Ancestors of Burgenland Croats moved from Croatia to Burgenland, Austria and nearby regions in Hungary and Slovakia 500 years ago.
According to the said centre, there are currently 40,000 ethnic Croats in Austria, with a majority of them living in Burgenland and Vienna. Slovakia has a 5,000-strong ethnic Croat community and in Hungary there are some 15,000 Croats whose ancestors settled Hungarian areas 500 years ago.
Books about Croats in the Slovak capital of Bratislava and in Neusiedl am See, Austria, are to be published within this project.