April 2004

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CROATIA REPORTS IMPROVEMENT OF ITS LANGUAGE POLICY

April 2004 – Croatia’s second periodical report on the implementation of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, submitted on 13 April, sets forth some major improvements in the field of minority protection, including language-related issues. The report will now be examined by the Advisory Committee and then by the Committee of Ministers. With respect to specific recommendations previously made to Croatia by the CoE’s Committee of Ministers concerning the need for the adoption of a constitutional law on national minorities, the Croatian government states that such legal framework is already in force, whereas other main legislative measures such as the Law on Education in Languages and Scripts of National Minorities and the Law on the Use of Languages and Scripts of National Minorities, have also been adopted in the last few years. The report also provides relevant official data on the demographic and ethnic structure of the population by nationality and mother tongue, according to the 2001 census results. As regards the European Commission’s position with respect to Croatia, it has just issued its Opinion on Croatia’s Application for EU Membership, recommending that the European Council open membership negotiations with Croatia while also stressing the need for “measures to ensure that the rights of minorities, in particular of the Serb minority, are fully respected”.