According to a conclusion adopted at today's meeting, the Presidency holds that all people killed for Croatia's independence and freedom should be remembered on November 18, together with Vukovar Victims Remembrance Day, and that August 23, as the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, should be observed in Croatia more actively.
The Presidency holds that opinions on events at Bleiburg and the Way of the Cross should not be imposed, since historians in Europe and Croatia agreed that an objective interpretation of facts is not possible and that political parties and parliaments do not make decisions about history.
Therefore, the Presidency believes that parliament should not sponsor only the commemoration at Bleiburg on May 15, but the commemoration of all those killed for Croatia's freedom.
Explaining the conclusion to the press, Speaker Boris Sprem said the Presidency was agreed that there was a uniform position in Croatia that the Way of the Cross victims were not the only innocent victims, but that there were many others who deserved full respect.
However, there was no consensus on the ruling parties' position that the Bleiburg commemoration should no longer be held under parliament's auspices, since the strongest opposition party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), was against it.
Sprem said the ruling coalition felt that the Bleiburg field was the site of "the final and legitimate battles between the National Liberation Army and (Ustasha leader Ante) Pavelic's then almost defeated forces" and that soldiers were killed there on both sides, but not innocent victims killed without a trial.
"There were innocent victims on the Way of the Cross execution sites and graves. We feel that those victims should be honoured," he added.
Sprem said the ruling coalition wanted to clear up the "confusion" created with parliament's 1996 decision to commemorate at Bleiburg, as a memorial day, also the Way of the Cross victims, which he said was "an abuse that's still going on".
Sprem said that at the beginning of its autumn session, parliament should discuss amendments to the law on holidays, memorial days and non-working days whereby November 18 would not be only a commemoration day for the Vukovar victims, but also a memorial day for all Croatians killed for the freedom and independence of the country.
In the autumn, parliament will also discuss the most appropriate location in Croatia for honouring the Way of the Cross victims, Sprem added.
Asked if anyone had asked what the HRK 500,000 had been spent in the past, he said the money was used to organise the arrival at Bleiburg, including HRK 300,000 for keeping the site where the commemoration was held.
Members of the press asked if it was time for Croatia's politics and public to return to reality and start thinking about the future instead of constantly dealing with WW2, namely with the Partisans and the Ustasha.
Sprem said this topic had not been raised by him or anyone from the ruling coalition, and agreed that one should deal with living standards and the country's development.
"And we are dealing with that, but we are somewhat prevented by individuals who force us to deal with those issues."
Asked why the new government responded to those topics and prioritised them in public if, as he said, it did not want to deal with them, Sprem said the media and historians were the first to react to those topics from Croatian history, but added that they were topics that could not be ignored but must be dealt with.
Reporters also asked why the ruling coalition's Social Democratic Party was now changing its mind about Bleiburg, given that its former and incumbent presidents, Ivica Racan and Zoran Milanovic, had gone there to pay their respects to the victims of the Way of the Cross.
Sprem said the SDP was not changing its mind but wanted to prevent further abuse and manipulation as well as change the way in which the Bleiburg commemoration had been held so far.
"The Ustasha and fascist insignia dominated (at those events), you couldn't avoid it. We want to change that, we want all Way of the Cross victims to be commemorated in Croatia in a dignified and appropriate fashion," said Sprem.
He added that the SDP's presidents had gone to Bleiburg because of the established position that Bleiburg was a symbol of the Way of the Cross victims.
HDZ president Jadranka Kosor described as hypocritical the decision under which the commemoration at Bleiburg would no longer be held under parliament's auspices but that parliament would finance it with HRK 500,000 this year, claiming that it would result in new rifts in Croatian society.
She wondered why the ruling coalition intended to pay taxpayers' money for something it considered bad.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.47)