Serb leader from Croatia sends letter to EP president
Monday, 11.05.2015.
10:45
Serb leader from Croatia sends letter to EP president
In it, Pupovac, who also serves as chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Croatian Parliament, noted his "concern over the growing political and ethnic intolerance and the anti-minority atmosphere and anti-minority actions that come with it that have been mounting up in Croatia since it has acceded the European Union."The letter, dated May 8, 2015, reads as follows:
Dear Mr Schulz,
I write to you with the conviction that we both share the concern over the growing political and ethnic intolerance and the anti-minority atmosphere and anti-minority actions that come with it that have been mounting up in Croatia since it has acceded the European Union. The escalation of intolerance and the creation and acceptance of an anti-minority atmosphere in the last three years have seriously threatened what has been achieved during our accession negotiations, making it impossible to honour the obligations arising out of Croatia's Accession Treaty, especially its provisions on the enhanced protection of minority rights.
I come to you because I appreciate your concern for European political values and the role of the European Parliament in the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms and the protection of obligations arising out of member states' accession treaties (I was myself an observer in the European Parliament during the first nine months of my country's membership in the Union). Another reason for this letter is the fact that some Members of the European Parliament, at least the Croatian ones, use its rostrum and their position as Members not only to spread intolerance among the citizens of Europe and provoke mistrust between its member and candidate states but also to directly incite violence in one of its worst forms ever seen in Europe or its southeastern corner – violence in the form of ethnic cleansing.
MEP Ruža Tomašić, elected from the list of Croatia's current leading opposition party has stated several days ago and in the context of the debate on the responsibilities of Serbia and Croatia for war crimes as follows: “They can pray to God that we don’t start cleaning up our back yard, because if we start with the cleaning up, a lot of Serbs will have to go to Serbia. Those who think this country is their cash register, those who think they can take what they please from this country and who give nothing in return, they should be careful what they are saying” (May 5th 2015). This after having said two years ago in the midst of the aggressive campaign against the Cyrillic script and the Serb community in Croatia that “Croatia is for Croats, and all others are guests” (March 16th 2013).
The next day (May 6th 2015), in a public letter addressed to the members of the Croatian Conservative Party, over which she presides, Ms Tomašić held her ground and repeated her chauvinist remarks, uttered primarily against the Serb minority in Croatia. These remarks are undoubtedly hate speech.
In a country and region that has gone through the horrific experience of coerced migration of all those who found themselves belonging to a minority group, a country that has seen the forced removal of most of its citizens of Serb ethnic minority during the conflict-ridden break-up of Yugoslavia and the then applied politics and war campaigns of ethnic cleansing, this kind of speech represents a very serious threat to durable peace, the restoration of trust and the unrestrained exercise of the law, including the legal rights of members of the Serb community in Croatia. Having in mind that these messages have been iterated by an MEP and that they have been directed at a community that, despite such experiences, has greatly contributed and is still contributing to the restoration of peace, trust, inter-ethnic tolerance and the affirmation of minority rights in the efforts to create the European perspective and realize Croatian membership in the EU, I am at liberty to call upon you to protect these values and am taking the liberty of reminding you of the mutual obligation to fulfil the obligations arising out of the Accession Treaty and its Annexes.
It would be very alarming if such and similar messages would not provoke a strong and clear condemnation from the representative body of the citizens of Europe, the protector of their rights and values, especially since the EP has recently denounced chauvinism and hate speech in Southeastern Europe in a resolution.
Getting used to such occurrences, disregarding them, tolerating them or even actively supporting them, which is sadly something I see have witnessed in my country, are dangerous non-libertarian and non-democratic practices. They undoubtedly represent practices that go against the fundamental values European Union has been founded on.
I am also taking the liberty of inviting you to do everything in your power to prevent such declarations coming from MEPs of becoming another indicator of the weakening of the political values of Europe. The multiplication of such indicators, especially those as extreme as this present one, could have devastating consequences not only on the exercise of the rights of one fragile minority group in Croatia and the impartial and convincing process of the Europeanisation of Europe’s Southeast, but also, I am afraid, on the general weakening of the Union’s political acquis.
I am convinced you will take every action in your power. Rest assured you will have in me and the politics I advocate and that we share, I am sure, an active and permanent partner.
Sincerely,
Milorad Pupovac
The President of the Serb National Council
Representative of the Independent Democratic Serb Party in the Croatian Parliament
President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Croatian Parliament
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