Commending the efforts the state and local authorities were making to protect minority rights, HDZ deputies said Croatia led the way in the region in terms of minorities' rights protection and that this should be an argument to have other states guarantee the same rights to Croats living there.
Ivana Sucec-Trakostanec said the majority of European countries did not show this level of minority rights even on paper. She added Slovenia had not recognised Croats as a national minority and that regardless of existing bilateral agreements, the Croatian minority's rights were not on a high level either in Italy, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro.
Ivica Klen said he would be very happy if Serbia and Montenegro guaranteed the same minority rights as Croatia.
Minority deputies, too, said Croatia had made great leaps forward in the strengthening of minority rights.
However, they underlined that more should be done in honouring minority-related legislation, notably on the local level, regarding minority representation in representative and executive bodies, bilingualism, official use of a minority language, and the spending of budgetary funds.