The Croatian government will earmark HRK 1.3 million from the state budget to finance the construction of a Croatia House in Subotica, which will be the headquarters for three key Croatian institutions in Serbia.

Croatia House will accommodate the three leading Croatian organisations in Vojvodina – the Croatian National Council (HNV), Institute of Culture of the Vojvodina Croats and the “Hrvatska Rijec” journalist-publishing house.

State-Secretary in the Central State Office for Croats Abroad Zvonko Milas signed an agreement with HNV president Jasna Vojnic on the financing of the construction of Croatia House and on enhancing personnel capacities of the Croat community in Serbia, for which an additional HRK 200,000 has been earmarked.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman attended the signing ceremony, saying that “through support for this and other projects, it is obvious that Croatia supports its compatriots.” This is also a message to Serbia regarding the continuation of dialogue on all outstanding issues, he said.

“We want the Croat community to enjoy all the rights that the Serb minority has in Croatia based on a mutual agreement on the protection of national minorities signed in 2014,” Grlic Radman recalled.

He once again underscored the problem of those who went missing during the 1990s war as well as the unresolved issue of representation of ethnic Croats in bodies of representation in Serbia.

“I think that Serbia’s commitment to EU membership is the right path and we will support that,” the minister said.

Milas added that the government had demonstrated that it cared about Croats in Serbia preserving their identity, primarily their language and culture.

HNV president Vojnic said that the money for enhancing personnel capacity would the association to staff two more offices, one in Petrovaradin and the other in Belgrade, where as of recently the HNV has an office.