FORUM OF CROATIAN MINORITIES TAKES PLACE IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, Dec 6 (Hina) - The status and problems of Croatian minorities in Europe and the improvement of their position was the subject of the fourth annual "Forum of Croatian Minorities". The Forum gathered representatives of Croatian associations from Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, as well as representatives of the Croatian Government, ministries and non- government organisations. The Croatian community in Yugoslavia is going through difficult times, maybe the most difficult in its history, Lazo Vojnic Hajduk, president of the Forum of Croatian Institutions and Organisations in Vojvodina (Yugoslavia's northern province) said. Although there are 200,000 Croats in Yugoslavia, this community does not have a legal status and is not recognised as a national minority, Hajduk stressed. The Yugoslav state policy is being "covered" by a constitutional proclamation that Serbia was a people's state, not a national state, and the political actors of the regime are treating the Croatian national community as a "phantom nation", so the Croat people are living in Yugoslavia in a political and historical vacuum, Hajduk said. The uncertain political situation and difficult material circumstances are burdening Croats in Montenegro, where there are more than 60,000 of them, Silvio Markovic, president of the Croatian cultural society "Napredak" said. Croats are emigrating for political and economic reasons, the Serb language is being taught as a mandatory subject in schools and there is no radio or television programme in Croatian, either, he stressed. There are about 40,000 Croats living in Austria, 90,000 in Hungary, 7,000 in Romania, 4,000 in Slovakia and 2,500 in Italy. (hina) lml mm