Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Thursday dismissed speculation about penalisation under the proposed law on the Croatian language, stressing that the law would not apply to private communication or restrict literary freedoms.

Speaking at a government session, Plenkovic said that last week government officials met with the leadership of the Matica Hrvatska (MH) cultural institution, which has prepared a draft bill on the Croatian language, adding that the government supported the initiative and that based on the MH proposal, a final bill would be drafted, put to public consultation and sent to Parliament for adoption.

“It is a fact that penalisation is being mentioned in the public sphere so I want to make it clear that the proposal does not envisage any penalisation. This is about the implementation of Article 12 of the Constitution which speaks about the use of the Croatian standard language and Latin script,” he said.

He added that in a preliminary discussion within the parliamentary majority, the coalition partners, including representatives of the ethnic minorities, expressed clear support for the proposal.

“It will not apply to private communication nor will it restrict literary freedoms,” he said.

Plenkovic noted that now that Croatian was one of the official EU languages, Croatia had the opportunity to adopt the relevant law, as done by many other EU members.

“The MH proposal is a good starting point, we believe that the language is a common national intangible asset for which the state must care systematically. We want the Croatian language to be enriched and to develop in line with modern standards,” he said.

Care provided to wounded Ukrainians

The PM wished a speedy recovery to 19 wounded Ukrainians who have arrived in Croatia, noting that their arrival is in line with an agreement reached with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The wounded Ukrainians are undergoing rehabilitation in Croatian medical institutions, he said, noting that this is an expression of solidarity with Ukraine.

€780m spent on post-earthquake reconstruction

He also said that €780 million from the European Solidarity Fund had been spent to date on post-earthquake reconstruction, noting that all €1.3 billion made available to Croatia for that purpose would be used up by the end of June.

In that context, he called on everyone involved to do their best to step up the reconstruction effort.

“After that, there follows the absorption of €1.2 billion from the National Recovery Plan,” said Plenkovic.