"In a multiethnic and multiconfessional environment as is the Danube region and Vukovar neither government protocol people nor representatives of the Catholic Church and the academic community noticed that it was inappropriate to open the college with the blessing of just one church, the Catholic Church, without inviting Orthodox Serbs and Protestants," Pupovac said at a press conference in the Parliament building in Zagreb on Wednesday.
Pupovac said he was pleased to see that the government was establishing institutions of higher education outside Zagreb and major cities, especially in areas devastated by war, but noted that it was inappropriate to invite representatives of only one church to the ceremony in Vukovar. In this context he cited a similar situation when a college in Knin was opened.
"If someone decided that church representatives should be present on such an occasion, and we know that it is not a private or a church but a state establishment, then everything should have been done to ensure that representatives of other churches and confessions were invited along with representatives of the Catholic Church," Pupovac said.
He added that such a move sent an undesired message and that instead of promoting ecumenism and cooperation in ethnically divided areas it perpetuated division.
Pupovac called on the government and representatives of all churches in the country to treat all religious communities equally.