Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic has condemned Sunday's statement by Matko Raos, an envoy of the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs, that "today's Croatia would not exist had it not been for 10 April 1941", referring to the date on which the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was proclaimed, state agency Hina said on Monday.

“I condemn the statement and consider it disgraceful. The government has distanced itself from it,” Milosevic told the press in Zagreb on Monday on the sidelines of a two-day conference marking International Romani Day.

He said the conference participants would travel to Ustica, near Jasenovac, about 100 km southeast of Zagreb, where at least 17,000 Roma had been killed by the Ustasha regime that ruled Croatia during the Second World War, adding that it was disgraceful and unconstitutional to glorify or in any way commemorate the regime that had committed such atrocities.

Raos made the statement at a commemoration for a Croatian Defence Force (HOS) unit that had fought in the 1991-1995 Homeland War. The unit is named after Rafael Boban, an Ustasha colonel and general during the Second World War.

Milosevic said that Raos had abused his status and made an unscheduled speech.

Asked if the government had the will to ban such statements, he said that his opinion was well known. He said that the government would discuss how to prevent such incidents in the future, adding that this matter should be regulated by law.

Asked if this meant that he as Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Human Rights had not done enough to have this issue included on the agenda, Milosevic said this was partly his responsibility. “I did what I thought was necessary. We have made certain progress, we have put on the agenda operational programmes and a national plan which will be adopted soon, I expect before summer.”

Milosevic said the steps being taken were against hate speech and promoted a culture of remembrance, which is a process that requires dialogue. He said he hoped a meeting would be held soon to discuss this matter.

Raos’s statement was also condemned by Veljko Kajtazi, the representative of the Roma and Jewish communities in the Croatian Parliament, and Anka Mrak-Taritas, leader of the Civic Liberal Alliance (GLAS) party.

Kajtazi said he was glad that the government had condemned the statement. He said the Roma and Jews were among the people who had suffered the most in the Second World War and that he would demand that laws following the examples of Germany and Austria be brought in.

He said that the prime minister had the political will to have the Ustasha call-and-response salute “For the Homeland – Ready!” banned, adding that he could see for himself at coalition meetings that solutions were being sought. He said the government should do this before the end of its term.

Mrak-Taritas described Raos’s statement as “absolutely unacceptable”, adding that the prime minister was trying to avoid confronting the past during his second term in office as well.

“Every country has ugly episodes in its past and they should stay there. As long as someone such as a government envoy says what was said yesterday, there is no real future for us and our children,” Mrak-Taritas said.

She said there was no way the prime minister would outlaw the Ustasha salute, stressing that he could have done that during his first term in office.

“The government should have said what this salute means. We have built our country on anti-fascism and that is clearly stated in the constitution. Until the prime minister settles this matter, we will have situations like this,” Mrak-Taritas said, warning that such statements paint an ugly picture of Croatia.

Hina did not say anything about Raos’ biography prior to him becoming an envoy at the commemoration.