The head of the Vukovar branch of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and Deputy Mayor, Srdjan Kolar, said on Thursday that the City Council's decision to abolish bilingualism in the city was "a big step back".
“During the discussion in the Council it could be felt that the ruling parties were largely uninterested in this matter. The fact that Mayor Ivan Penava was not present speaks enough,” Kolar told the state news platform Hina.
He said that the decision to amend the city’s statute, under which the provision on the official use of the Serbian language and Cyrillic alphabet in the city was abolished, “is a huge step back in Serb-Croat relations in Vukovar”.
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“People in Vukovar were not given a chance for a better tomorrow,” Kolar said, adding that the decision was against humanity.
He said that although the decision was based on the results of the census, it was always possible for a minority to be given certain rights if the majority wanted so. “It was not done in this case and the few existing rights were trampled upon. This remains on the conscience of those who supported this decision.”
The decision repealed the statutory decision on the equal official use of the language and script of the Serb ethnic minority in Vukovar which gave its members the right to freely use the Serbian language and Cyrillic script in social and public life and in official communication on public affairs from within the remit of local government.
The City Council said the decision was based on the official results of the 2021 census, which showed that the share of Serbs in the city’s population is 29.73%, which is less than one third of the total population, meaning that they do not have the right to the official use of their language and script in Vukovar.
The decision was backed by councillors from the Homeland Movement, Croatian Sovereignists, the Croatian Democratic Union and Council Chairman Zeljko Sabo (independent), while two SDSS councillors and one from the Democratic Alliance of Serbs voted against.
