Speaking of what the year 2014 had brought the Serb ethnic minority in Croatia, SNV president Milorad Pupovac said that the past year, along with problems caused by the economic crisis, was also marked by an increase in intolerance. He wished that in 2015 Croatia may rid itself of the burden of hate and dedicate itself to real problems.
"We hope that the coming elections will help relieve the situation and that each one of us will make the best choice and help us get rid of what we do not need - noise, rage, hate and lack of focus on vital issues," said Pupovac.
He added that politics in Croatia should be given back power by "restoring its credibility and by stopping those who want to make politics powerless and for whom politics is not a mission."
"It is up to us to preserve the autonomy and power of politics as the power of people. That is what the country needs, that is what our citizens need and that should be clear to those who out of reasons that have nothing to do with politics want to render the government and parliament powerless, regardless of whether they send their messages from church altars or from bank offices - they should all be told: 'That power belongs to the people and the people should control it'," said Pupovac.
Offering his best wishes for Christmas to those attending the reception, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said that he did not see politics as a job but as a calling and mission.
"The values I live for and for which I will fight as long as I am in politics are justice, equality, freedom and minority rights, in a country that has only now started to stand on its own feet and that will overcome the crisis, that has relevant indicators for the first time, where money is spent but is also saved, as evidenced by the first budget results, without anyone's pressure or anyone's tutorship... That is what we believe in and what I will fight for," Milanovic underlined.
Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said he was glad that relations between the majority Croat people and the Serb minority, disrupted in the 1990s, had been continually improving.
The SNV's Christmas reception was also attended by President Ivo Josipovic, who is running for his second term in the January 11 presidential runoff. In 2014 and 2013 Josipovic did not attend the event for health reasons.
Addressing the reception, Josipovic said that it was politicians' obligation to protect society from the burden of hate and intolerance.
"Unfortunately, we have been witnessing... hate and unwillingness to accept those who are slightly different as one's equals. That is why we politicians are the most responsible for protecting society from the burden of hate and intolerance," Josipovic said, his statement being welcomed by a round of applause.
The head of the Serb Orthodox Church in Zagreb, Ljubljana and Italy, Metropolitan Porfirije, Zagreb Deputy Mayor Sandra Svaljek and Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency chair Mladen Ivanic addressed the event as well.
Attending the reception on the behalf of the opposition HDZ party's leader Tomislav Karamarko was the party's foreign policy advisor Miro Kovac.
Speaking to reporters after the reception, Kovac conveyed to Orthodox believers Christmas greetings from Karamarko and the HDZ's presidential candidate, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic.
Asked why Karamarko and Grabar Kitarovic did not attend the event, Kovac said that the reason was Grabar Kitarovic's campaign trail.
The SNV today traditionally presented its awards for humanism, promotion of tolerance and anti-fascist values. The awards went to Jovica Brkic, Oliver Frljic and Adam Dupalo, who was honoured posthumously.
The Nikola Tesla award for contribution to development of Serb institutions went to Professor Miodrag Milosevic for his contribution to the establishment of Croatian Serb institutions in the 1990s.