Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Wednesday dismissed the possibility of postponing the introduction of Cyrillic script in official use in Vukovar, noting that the law to that effect had been passed by the previous government led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and that it was a good law.
Milanovic said this in response to the question put by HDZ MP Zvonko Milas during Question Time in Parliament as to whether the government would consider delaying the application of the Constitutional Law on the Rights of Ethnic Minorities in order to delay the introduction of Cyrillic alphabet in Vukovar.
"Do you see any other solution?" Milanovic asked Milas, reminding him that Cyrillic script would be put in official use in compliance with the Constitution and the Constitutional Law, which were enacted by the HDZ-led majority.
Under the law, ethnic minorities are entitled to the official use of their language and script in areas where they make up more than a third of the population.
"In 2009, when Zeljko Sabo (of the SDP) was the mayor of Vukovar, but did not have a majority in the Town Council, the HDZ, the HSP AS (Croatian Party of Rights - Dr Ante Starcevic) and logically the SDSS (Independent Democratic Serb Party) decided to change the Town Statute and give that right to the Serb minority in Vukovar when their number was below one third of the population. It was the HDZ's policy dictated from Zagreb," Milanovic said.
The prime minister invited Milas to propose his own solution to the problem and to explain it to the EU members that have not yet ratified Croatia's EU accession treaty.
