Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) whip Branko Bacic said on Tuesday that the call by Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic to "Serbs in all Serb lands" to hang out their Serb flags on 15 September, wherever they may be, is inappropriate, unacceptable and a provocation.

“I consider that to be a provocation and inappropriate, all the more so, because it is in violation of the law,” Bacic told reporters in the Croatian Parliament, citing the Public Law and Order Act which says that displaying other countries’ flags is not allowed.

I expect the Serb community to respect the law

“I expect that our fellow citizens and members of the Serb community in Croatia will respect its laws,” said Bacic, underscoring that it is inappropriate and unacceptable for the “president of Serbia to call on citizens of Croatia, notably members of the Serb community in Croatia, to hang out Serbian flags in Croatia on 15 September.”

Asked if the police would monitor that, Bacic said that the Croatian police perform their duties according to the law and that he believes that this will be the case tomorrow too.

“It is not particularly hard to check if someone has displayed the flag of another country in their window,” said Bacic.

He rejected claims from the opposition that the government should have reacted more sharply to Vucic’s call and that it did not do so because of the cooperation with its coalition partner, the Independent Serb Democratic Party (SDSS).

He underlined that HDZ is cooperating properly with its coalition partners. “The ruling majority is stable but that does not mean that we will pass over this kind of call, merely because we are in a coalition with members of national minorities,” he said.

Bačić would not comment on a statement by SDSS MP Milorad Pupovac that all Serb minority institutions should hang out the Serbian flag alongside the Croatian flag and that he saw Vucic’s call as an encouragement and not as an imposition.

Ruling majority is stable

Ahead of the autumn sitting of the Sabor, Bacic said that the ruling majority is stable and that the government has full support in addressing numerous challenges, from economic recovery and the fight against the pandemic to the reconstruction of earthquake-struck areas.

He expects the government to adopt amendments to the Reconstruction Act by the end of the month to accelerate the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb and the Banija region.