Category Archives: Croatia

Whether bilingual boards will be placed on public institutions in the Međimurje municipality of Orehovici, where around 33 percent of the population is made up of members of the Roma national minority, is a question that has yet to be answered. According to the law, this should be the case.

Committee for Monitoring the Implementation of the National Plan for the Inclusion of Roma recently discussed this topic, MP Veljko Kajtazi told Hina, noting that none of the representatives of Orehovice Municipality were present at the session of that committee, although they were invited.

“This is most likely a message that they don’t care. They scared Roma in for example by telling them that the guaranteed minimum compensation would be abolished if there were bilingual signs, that it would be worse than in Vukovar, and the locals told them all sorts of things,” said Kajtazi. He added that his point of view is that the law, especially the constitutional one (Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities), must be implemented and that a dialogue should be established on how to implement the right to bilingualism.

• Sukobi oko dvojezičnih ploča u Orehovici. Kajtazi: ‘Plaše moje Rome da će biti gore nego u Vukovaru’. In: Telegram. 11.02.2023. https://www.telegram.hr/politika-kriminal/sukobi-oko-dvojezicnih-ploca-u-orehovici-kajtazi-plase-moje-rome-da-ce-biti-gore-nego-u-vukovaru/

The yellow Box Awards are given as part of the comprehensive project Sustainable Croatia, and are supported by the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia and held under the auspices of the City of Zagreb. The awards were given on the basis of 17 sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations. Companies, individuals, associations and institutions and cities that have contributed the most to sustainability, development of the land of knowledge, environmental protection and human values in Croatia are awarded with the yellow frame.

The Award of CATEGORY 10: Reducing inequality was given to the Elementary school Orehovica – the first school in Croatia with the teaching of Romani language and culture. The small municipality of Orehovica in Međimurje County is the first and so far the only municipality in which the Roma minority is greater than 33 percent of the population and has achieved the right to equal official use of its language. It is the first school in Croatia that introduced the teaching of the Bajaj language according to model C – Romani language and culture, in which a large number of students are involved.

• ŽUTI OKVIR: Upoznajte pobjednike. In: Story.hr. 21.12.2022. https://story.hr/Lifestyle/a240187/Nagrada-Zuti-okvir.html

For the first time in history, Roma are given the right to bilingual signs. This is the result of the recent census in which the

Međimurje municipality of Orehovica has become the first local self-government unit in which the Roma minority exceeded 33 percent of the population which is a prerequisite for bilingualism.

Of all the national minorities, only Roma recorded growth, and that by some six percent. This can have many reasons, as Roma usually do not declare themselves as such in censuses.

• HRVATSKA: Prvi put u povijesti Romi dobili pravo na dvojezične ploče. In: Fenix Magazin. 07.10.2022. https://fenix-magazin.de/hrvatska-prvi-put-u-povijesti-romi-dobili-pravo-na-dvojezicne-ploce/

According to the final results of the 2021 population census, there are 3,871,883 inhabitants in Croatia. Among them, by nationality, there are 3,547,614 (91.63%) Croats, 123,892 (3.2%) Serbs, 24,131 (0.62%) Bosniaks, 17,980 (0.46%) Roma, and 13,763 (0.36%) Italians.

Bosnian is the mother tongue of 17,531 citizens (0.45%), Italian is the mother tongue of 12,890 (0.33 %) citizens, Romanes is the mother tongue of 15,269 citizens (0.39%), and Albanian is the mother tongue of 13,503 citizens (0.35).

As usual, it is almost impossible to know if the numbers of Roma is anywhere close to reality.

• Državni zavod za statistiku objavio konačne rezultate Popisa 2021. In: Vecernji. 22.09.2022. https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/dzs-objavljuje-konacne-rezultate-popisa-stanovnistva-prema-spolu-i-starosti-narodnosti-vjeri-1619268

The representative of national minorities in the Croatian Parliament, Veljko Kajtazi, commented live for N1 Studio on the latest statements of the President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, who on Friday in Imotski commented on the Roma community and his earlier statements about them and the climate.

Veljko Kajtazi said that he did not ask for an apology from the president for his earlier statements, but added that he considered the statements inappropriate.

• NE TRAŽI ISPRIKU! ‘Ako on misli da ja nisam Rom koji je napisao prvi romski rječnik, koji govori romski jezik, neka mi kaže što sam!’ Ib: Dnevno. 29.07.2022. https://www.dnevno.hr/vijesti/ne-trazi-ispriku-ako-on-misli-da-ja-nisam-rom-koji-je-napisao-prvi-romski-rjecnik-koji-govori-romski-jezik-neka-mi-kaze-sto-sam-2001348/

The Croatian President Zoran Milanović rejected the interpretation of the representative of the Roma minority, Veljko Kajtazi, that he had offended the Roma in his criticism of the government’s energy saving plan, saying that his statement was without any ill intent and that he has no intention of apologizing. Among other things, he had said that it is better to sell air conditioners to Roma if the temperature is set to 25 degrees. “They will make a profit on it. Roma are very skilled in these things.”

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• Milanović: Nisam uvrijedio Rome, važnije je ono što se događa u BiH. In: Al Jazeera. 29.07.2022. https://balkans.aljazeera.net/news/balkan/2022/7/29/milanovic-nisam-uvrijedio-rome-vaznije-je-ono-sto-se-dogadja-u-bih