Speaking at a reception held before Orthodox Christmas on Wednesday, the president of the Serb National Council (SNV), Milorad Pupovac, said that in 2010 the Serbs in Croatia and their policies became a unique and important component of democratic processes in Croatia, equally responsible to themselves and to Croatia, and equally committed to accomplishing their own as well as general national interests.
In 2011 we would like to additionally strengthen such a role of the Serb community in democratic processes in Croatia because we see it as our debt towards the Serb community and towards Croatia, as well as an irreplaceable instrument of their mutual emancipation, said Pupovac.
The Serbs in Croatia want such policies that will not reduce Croatia demographically and economically to the capital Zagreb, Pupovac said, adding that Serbs want to contribute to Croatia's completing its EU entry talks as planned, by the end of June, because it is Croatia's strategic, political and economic interest.
Pupovac expressed readiness to cooperate with all key policy makers in Croatia, and, recalling political events in 2010, said that Ivo Josipovic "became President of the Republic thanks to the votes of a vast majority of Croatian citizens, including citizens of Serb descent."
Croatia has changed the reason for deep divisions in the region of the last 20 years into a reason for union, primarily owing to the work of President Josipovic, according to Pupovac.
Amendments to the Constitution and the Constitutional Law on the Rights of the Ethic Minorities finally resulted in the recognition of minority institutions, including the SNV, and the election legislation was amended to put an end to the long-lasting unconstitutional practice of electoral segregation of the minorities, Pupovac said.
After 20 years, Croatian Serbs will be able to elect and be elected as equal citizens, with a protective fixed election quota of three seats, unless more seats are secured through regular election procedure, and these election processes will strengthen and renew Croatia's weakened democratic capacity, the Serb leader said.
Speaking more of the year 2010, he said that most Croatians were glad that it was over because many of them had lost their jobs and business security in that year, the possibility to pay loans or the possibility of education, which had resulted in the loss of confidence in politics and political institutions.
The Serbs in Croatia support investment and development initiatives and policies designed to put an end to the growth of insolvency and unemployment and to the decline in production and investment. Among them are infrastructure projects such as railway and navigation routes and ports, capacity restructuring in food production, and the creation of a policy of even regional development, Popovac said, wishing all Orthodox believers a merry Christmas.
The reception ended with the presentation of SNV awards.
The Svetozar Pribicevic Award for the promotion of relations between Croats and Serbs went to Vesna Skare Ozbolt and Ivica Vrkic for their contribution to the peaceful reintegration of eastern Slavonia and Baranja.
The Nikola Tesla Award for the development of Serb institutions went to Vojislav Stanimirovic. Vojko Nikolic was presented with the Nikola Viskovic Award for the affirmation of anti-fascism, while Vesna Terselic was given the Dijana Budisavljevic Award for documenting facts about war victims and war crimes.
