Croatian National Council (CNC) in Serbia hopes that relations between the two countries wil improve following the election of liberal Zoran Milanovic for the new Croatia’s President, although a majority of local Croats voted for his opponent, the conservative incumbent Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, N1 reported on Thursday.
Tomislav Zigmanov of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV), said that “things must be solved for the sake of our European future,” adding the Croatian community in Serbia was a hostage of the two neighbouring countries’ relations.
One of the things they complain about is the fate of a cultural centre in the village of Tavankut in Serbia’s northern province of Vojvodina, which was reconstructed last May but is still out of work.
“It’s ridiculous,” Tome Vojnic Mijatov, former head of the local administration, told N1.
He does not know why the centre is still closed.
“There are rumours that the opening is on hold until President Aleksandar Vucic comes,” Vojnic Mijatov said.
Whether that is true or not, they hope to see Milanovic as they witnessed Vucic – Grabar Kitarovic meeting.
According to the 2011 census, there were 57,900 Croats in Serbia or 0.8 percent of the region’s population. The vast majority of them, 47,033, lived in Vojvodina, as the fourth largest ethnic group.
The CNC said their relationship with Milanovic was not close when he was Croatia’s Prime Minister from 2011 to 2016, but that they hope it would improve now that he is President.
“They (the relations) don’t have to be warm, but the communication should be more frequent, so they can discuss all open issues (between Belgrade and Zagreb), so they can start with recognising they exist,” Jasna Vojnic from CNC said.
Officials from the local Croat minority mostly blame the Subotica Town Hall for obstructing their initiatives, such as the Croatian school centre.
The authorities say the procedure is underway, but that there are some outstanding issues that have to be solved, such as a price and a real need.
