The HKK issued a statement on Thursday reading that at their last meeting with Jasen Mesic, the chairman of the government's commission for relations with religious communities, it was said that the government had no funds for the conclusion of contracts.
The HKK deems that entering into agreements is important so that "properly registered religious communities can exercise their rights, guaranteed by the Constitution and the law".
The commission's secretary, Franjo Dubrovic, told Hina today that Croatia was fulfilling its commitments stemming from the ruling of the international court in Strasbourg.
He said that the subject matter of the judgement were religious classes in schools and the recognition of marriages concluded at religious ceremonies. The financial means requested by the HKK were not the topic of the dispute, he said.
On 9 December 2010, the European Court of Human Rights handed down the judgement against Croatia for discriminating against reformist churches. In the case "Union of Churches 'The Word of Life' and others against the Republic of Croatia," the Court unanimously established violation of Article 9, on freedom of thought, conscience and faith, in conjunction with Article 14, banning discrimination, of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Union of Churches 'The Word of Life', the Church of the Full Gospel and the Protestant Reformed Christian Church sued Croatia as, unlike other religious communities, they are unable to provide religious education in public schools and nurseries or perform religious marriages, since the government has not agreed to conclude an agreement with them which would regulate their relations with the state, said the Court.
The three churches have been registered in Croatia as religious communities since 2003. Their request to sign an agreement with the state was turned down in 2005 after it was concluded that they did not meet the requirements, namely have at least 6,000 members.
The Court noted that some other religious communities in Croatia do not meet those criteria yet have signed an agreement with the state.