Jakovcic told a news conference in Pula on Tuesday that some politicians, particularly leaders of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), gave "short-sighted political assessments" when they linked the dual citizenship act enabling ethnic Italians in Croatia and Slovenia to qualify for Italian citizenship with an initiative to establish "the Adriatic Euro-region".
"The Italian law has no political implications and there certainly will be no large-scale applications for Italian citizenship," the head of the western Croatian county said.
Jakovcic said that he had sent a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Wolfgang Schuessel, the Chancellor of Austria, which currently chairs the European Union, saying that Europe had not efficiently solved the matter of dual citizenship.
In the letter, Jakovcic expressed confidence that the Italian law contained no secret territorial claims on Croatia but that its purpose was to make it possible for ethnic Italians to acquire dual citizenship.
The Istrian prefect added that he had had no intention to question the Croatian Government's policy with that letter.
As regards possibilities for foreign nationals to buy real estate in Croatia, Jakovcic said he was in favour of reciprocity and purchase conditions as stipulated by the EU-Croatia Stabilisation and Association Agreement.