THE SCORE BETWEEN ZAGREB AND PULA - 18:18

AIM, ZAGREB, February 20, 1995 Since February 3, The District of Istria has its Statute again, which was suspended by the Government on April 13 last year. Namely, the Government established at the time that as many as 36 articles of the Statute were not in compliance with the Constitution and requested the opinion of the Constitutional Court which has now passed judgement on it which is a tie, that is, it issued a visa to 18 articles, and deleted the other 18.

The first reactions of the Istrians to such a decision, reached after a tumultuous debate which was teeming with politics although no court whatsoever, and especially not the Constitutional Court should ever permit it, could be brought down to: they have abolished everything we asked for, they have deprived us of everything! The first statements of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), the party which has won the inviolable majority in Istria, and the Italian Union are written in the same style of disappointment and indignation. They claim that abolition of some of the articles of the Statute will directly affect the future position of the Italian ethnic minority, and that the once achieved level of protection of the Italians, especially bilingualism and equality of language, the right to concensus in operation of relevant agencies and legitimacy of the Italian Union, cannot be lowered. The IDS also claimed that the decision of the Constitutional Court had been reached under pressure exerted by the ruling party, and that they would inform the international public about abolition of some of their rights. That same international public soon had its say, coming from the neighbouring Italy, of course, from where threats addressed to Croatia came. Similarly as in respect to Slovenia, Italy will obviously do everything to obstruct Croatia's joining the European Union, and to prevent it from being granted any credits under favourable conditions.

In fact, the whole issue concerned the rights of the Italians, because most of the abolished articles referred to them. The Court assessed that the provision pursuant to which Croat and Italian languages were equal in the entire ditrict, giving the advantage to persons who used both languages in employment. The authors of the Statute had historical reasons to guide them, regardless of the fact that only about 15 thousand Italians live in the whole area, and just about 21 thousand in the whole of Croatia. The Court however, had no intention to be guided by the slogan that it was better to provide too many than too little, because who can get a headache from a surplus of ethnic minority rights, but strictly implemented the provisions that the right to bilingualism should be gven to the Italians only in the municipalities and cities where their number exceeded eight per cent out of the total number of inhabitants. One could say that bilingualism was not actually abolished, but just reduced to the local level, meaning that the principle of Croatia as a unitarian, centralized state was implemented consistently, because, on the contrary, the principle which the IDS wished to push through could be expanded on the territory of the entire state, which could, naturally, have far-reaching consequences.

The Constitutional Court was, therefore, really defending the Constitution, although its decisions were primarily political in nature, and although they have needlessly aggravated the relations with Italy and incurred significant damage to Croatia's position in Europe. But, it is interesting to see what other Articles of the Statute the Court considered illegal. The provision which defined the district primarily as a local self-administration, and then as a level of administration was the first to be abolished. The inhabitants are not citizens any more, because only the state can have citizens, and the district cannot guarantee additional rights and civic freedoms. The provision on independent levying taxes was also abolished, as well as the one about the right of the district to decentralization. The provision which affirms Istriadom as the expression of Istrian ethnic plurality is also the matter of the past. The possibility to call the district parliament the Assembly of Istria (Dieta istriana) does not exist any more, nor will the members of the district assembly enjoy special immunity. Constitutional judges have also abolished the provision about the disrict-prefect being elected and dismissed exclusively by the assembly of the district giving no possibility to the Government to discharge the prefect under conditions described by the Law on Local Self-Administration and Administration.

So far there were no major polemics in the public concerning these provisions, because it had almost been anticipated that this would happen, and after the passions were somewhat pacified, the leaders of the Istrian District could be heard saying that the tie was not so bad after all, especially since the game was played on the opponent's grounds. Temperature is gradually dropping, because what has remained of the Statute, although the Government wished it abolished, is also significant. What remained was the provision about the District anthem, the coat of arms and the flag, the seat of the Assembly in Pazin, and that of municipal authorities in Pula, then the right to cooperate with other local units and the right of association with international regional associations. The right to schedule a referendum within the competences of the district was also proclaimed to be in compliance with the Constitution. Curiously enough, the Court signalled a green light to district protection against any activity which can jeopardize cultural and ethnic plurality of Istria, since at the same time, it banned protection of Istriadom as the expression of that same ethnic plurality.

In fact, one could say that the proceedings in the Constitutional Court revealed all deficiencies and inadequacy of Croatian legislature in the sphere of local self-administration and administration, so that these decisions in fact moved the limits of self-administration in the state which recognizes only one authority, that is the one in Zagreb. The reporting judge himself, Nikola Filipovic, stated that the Constitution was not quite clear about the definition of the District, and therefore the approach to the Istrian Statute was not too restrictive. Dr. Filipovic expressed his impression that constitutional legal and political aspects were confused in elaboration of the Statute, and then concluded that he was certain that the inhabitants of Istria wished more self-administration, and that it would certainly come true if we continued to follow in the steps of democratic Europe.

The tumult about the Statute has just about calmed down, and it is interesting that most of the complaints against the behavior of the IDS came from the Assembly deputy Eli Martincic who had joined Mesic's Independent Democrats, and accused his previous party colleagues of petty politicking and threatened them with introduction of coercise measures in Istria, when a new problem appeared. Namely, in compliance with with the choice to preserve Istriadom, and pursuant to the proposal of noone else but Eli Martincic himself, the First Congress of Istrians was scheduled to be held in Pula from April 13 until 16, which will gather over one thousand participants. The main topic will be the position of Istria in Croaia. The organizer is the District of Istria, so it is not a Congress of the IDS, and representatives of Croatia, Slovenia and Italy will also be invited, as well as the presidents of all three states. But this wish to gather the Istrians has not passed withoput a political scandal, because the ruling party wishes to prove by all means that this is an instance of separatism and an anti-Croat activity. Namely, at the session of the Assembly Committee for Internal Policy and National Security, which had Plan Z-4 as the main item on its agenda which was assessed as an assault on Croat sovereignty, Vice-President of the Assembly, Vladimir Seks asked: Has Luciano Delbianco on the occasion of the First Congress of Istrians deliberately or accidentally signed his name as the "President of the Istrian District"?

This was the cause of a long discussion, and in the end it was concluded that the District-Prefect should publicly apologize and that an opinion of the Ministry of Administration and the Government shold be sought. The whole issue should be understood as the continuation of the war between Pula and Zagreb and an attempt to effectuate the threat about dissolving the District Assembly, dismissal of the Prefect and scheduling new elections. Namely, the hard-core faction of the HDZ which feels Istria as a thorn in its side, especially President Tudjman among them, are trying to make a scandal even where there is no cause for any such thing. Delbianco apologized the very next day explaining that it was simply mistake of a clerk which occurred because the invitations were written in three languages, and the signature should have read: President of the Municipal Administration of the District of Istria.

Sensitivity of Croatian authorities to developments in Istria and connected with it is manyfold. The HDZ primarily cannot get over the fact that it has no influence at all on the greatest Croat peninsula, although it has tried to "occupy" it and make it more Croat by appointing its chiefs of police and managers, and by trying to buy it through ownership transformation. On the other hand, these hard-headed people obviously find it hard to understand how specific Istria is, and least of all to use it in its way towards Europe. The Istrians are constantly accused of not being real Croats, although they too say that they are different. But the authorities keep forgetting that these very Istrians react equally resolutely to attempts of the Italians to claim Istria for themselves, and that they were among the first to warn that the Yugoslav Foreign Minister Jovanovic offered Istria as a gift to the Italians. Croat authorities are repeating the same mistakes made by Yugoslavia. Instead to do everything in its power to have a strong and satisfied rampart in the bordering region, they seem to be doing everything to turn the Istrians against themselves.

GOJKO MARINKOVIC