"The Italian ethnic minority in Croatia enjoys all rights, and I am pleased that Furio Radin, the parliamentary representative of the Italian minority and doyen of the Croatian Parliament, is now the Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament. These are important political signals which Croatia, being a mature European country, is sending out to the minorities and we expect in a wider context of talks with Italy to make further efforts in protecting the rights of Croats living in Italy," Plenkovic said after meeting the head of the Croatian community in Trieste, Damir Murkovic.
Plenkovic said that Murkovic, in his capacity as president of the association of Croatian communities in Italy, had been caring for years about the status of 15,000 Croats in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. He said that the Croats, both those autochthonous to that part of Italy and those who have immigrated in the last 20 years or so, looked after their cultural rights and the status of the Croatian language.
Murkovic said that the Croatian community had formally raised the issue of recognising Croatian as the fifth minority language in this region. "This procedure is now at a political level. Once accepted, it can be resolved quickly. I hope it will be dealt with in the same way as the implementation of the agreement on cultural cooperation between Croatia and Italy, which was signed by the Croatian and Italian ministers of culture in 2015, mostly thanks to the involvement of the Croats in Italy."
Also attending the meeting was the Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Marija Pejcinovic Buric.
Text: Hina