ZAGREB, July 15, 2019 - Vukovar mayor Ivan Penava said on Sunday he talked with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković a number of times during the day about a Constitutional Court decision on the use of the languages and scripts of ethnic minorities in the town, and that Plenković told him it was necessary to keep the peace and stability and to try to resolve the issue through communication and dialogue.
Under the recent Constitutional Court decision, the rights of the Serb ethnic minority in Vukovar must be advanced.
Speaking on Nova TV, Penava said Plenković was "open-minded and fully understands the situation" and that "he is fully aware of the gravity of the problem we, and consequently the government, encounter in the town every day."
Penava said everyone reasonable, including the government, would adhere to the letter of the law and justice but also acknowledge that, in line with the constitution, things like human life and dignity were much more important than some other things.
The mayor said "we must first resolve the crimes committed during the Homeland War and then build, on clean foundations, a better society and a state in which there will be room for every, even the smallest, right concerning either ethnic minorities or anyone else living in this country."
Penava said the incumbent government had done very much for Vukovar "and I can only thank them for that."
He fears "very much" the Constitutional Court decision might cause a repeat of the riots that occurred in the town in 2013 when bilingual signs were put on state institution buildings. He said he would not highlight the Serb ethnic minority because, he added, the problem in Vukovar was not caused by the relations between any ethnic minority and the majority population.
"I'm afraid there is actually turmoil in the majority population because the attitude of institutions... respect for the constitution, fundamental state acts, is not on the level it should be," Penava said.
More Vukovar news can be found in the Lifestyle section.
