GOVT SENDS BILL ON MINORITY LANGUAGES' USE INTO PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDUR

PROCEDUR $ E ZAGREB, 18 Sept (Hina) - At a session held on Thursday, the Croatian Government adopted and sent into parliamentary procedure a bill on the official use of languages and scripts of national communities or minorities as well as the final bill on the ratification of the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages. A bill on the confirmation of a consular convention between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was also sent into parliamentary procedure and the Government adopted a regulation on the confirmation of a Croatian-Turkish contract on stimulation and mutual protection of investments. Speaking about the proposed ratification of the European Charter on Regional or Minority Languages, Vice Premier Ljerka Mintas-Hodak said that the Charter had been signed in 1992 and that its ratification would not change the position of minorities in Croatia, who, she stressed, enjoyed high protection standards in line with the Croatian Constitution. According to the Constitution, the use of official minority languages is obligatory in those units of local self-government in which minority members make more than 50% of population. The ratification of the Charter and the adoption of the bill would mean that the Government accepts the possibility of statutes of units of local self-government establishing the Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Ruthanian, Ukrainian and Serbian languages as official minority languages, including those units of local self-government where minorities make less than 50% of local population. Within a period of one year, Croatia will have to submit a report on the implementation of the Charter to the Council of Europe secretary-general, after which it will have to submit new reports every third year. It is necessary to take care of the protection of the Croat minority in other states, especially in Slovenia and Macedonia, Deputy Immigration and Return Minister Josip Juras said, adding that the two countries do not set aside state budget money for the Croat minority. Foreign Minister Mate Granic said that Croatia had signed agreements on protection of minorities with Italy and Hungary. Talks on the same matter were being held with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Croatia had also started talks with other states in which a considerable number of Croats were living, Granic said. (hina) jn rm 181907 MET sep 97