Croatian Writers' Society speaks out against draft bill on Croatian language

"We voice our strong opposition to the linguistic policy based on an ideology of divisions and restrictions that would result in linguistic barriers between the Croatian language and other languages in the neighboruhood, which are mutually understandable languages, and eventually in barriers towards the societies with which we share the life to a large extent," the HDP's leadership said.

They added that the introduction of the role of proofreaders for the Croatian language in public use would boil down to cleaning the Croatian language of Serb words.

It warns that public libraries would no longer be able to procure the books written by Serbian, Montenegrin, and Bosnia and Herzegovina authors, as those works are not in the Croatian language.

The society is against the regulation under which the names of public institutions, products, sports and cultural institutions and events must be first written in the Croatian language, while we can see that leading politicians and media  show "a low level of the use of the Croatian language".

The HDP is against the establishment of a 14-member Council for the Croatian Language, since there are now the Institute for the Croatian Language and the committee for the Croatian standard language within the Croatia Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU).

The Constitution already provides for public and official use of the Croatian language and the Latin script, the society says and adds that it holds the proposed law unnecessary.

The whole story surrounding the adoption of this law has a striking right and Conservative tone and will enable right-wing and Conservative people to prescribe the language and give linguistic tips, which this association finds to be harmful.

Law on Croatian language to be adopted this year

On 1 August , the education ministry sent a draft bill on the Croatian language to public consultation, stressing that it is not about a language police and does not prescribe a language norm, there will be no penalties, and the language issues will be decided by a council of 14 experts.

The bill defines the basic rules in public and official communication, and it does not encroach on private communication.

The future Act is supposed to ensure the development of the language in compliance with contemporary trends and all social circumstances, Science and Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said at the presentation of the draft bill in Zagreb.

The law, which was drafted following the initiative of the Matica Hrvatska cultural institution whose members proposed a blueprint, should enter into force by the end of the year.

According to the draft, which will be in the public discussion until August 31, the government will establish the 14-member Council for the Croatian Language, as an coordinating and advisory body, said Fuchs.

The council will take care of the Croatian language, promote the culture of the Croatian language in official and public use, take care of and deal with the issue of protecting the wealth of the Croatian language, the minister pointed out.

Communication between citizens as well as in artistic expression remains as it is, namely freedom is not restricted, he emphasised, adding that the law brings some rules in terms of teaching from kindergartens, primary schools to universities where students should be taught the standard Croatian language, with the free use of dialects and idioms at home.

Public notices and advertising messages must be in Croatian, and multilingual notices, including the contents of traffic and tourist signs, are first printed in Croatian.