The project was launched in June this year and will take up to 18 months. The funds, ensured through CARDS 2003 programme, will be used, among other things, for publishing and distributing handbooks on the role and functions of ethnic minorities' councils.
The chairman of the Council for National Minorities, Aleksandar Tolnauer, said that although the government and the national parliament demonstrated political will in supporting the said councils, units of local authorities seemed still not willing to accept the idea about the councils.
On the other hand, minorities do not know how many rights under the Croatian constitution they can exercise which is why the Council for National Minorities has already held 23 seminars on the ground, Toulnar said.
Currently, there are 283 ethnic minorities' council with more than 4,000 people being engaged in their work throughout Croatia, he added.
The head of the Delegation of the European Commission, Vincent Degert, said that the main purpose of the project was to improve the understanding between local authorities and the said councils.
Commending the Croatian Government for progress in allowing minorities to exercise their rights, Degert said that the public awareness should be raised about not isolating minorities' councils as a separate element but integrating them in society.