The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU) is calling on the Croatian government to block Serbia’s path to the EU membership if official Belgrade does not meet as many as 14 conditions, including the renunciation of the “myth” about the Jasenovac concentration camp.
The document titled “Contributions to the Protection of Croatian National Interests in the Republic of Croatia’s Negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia regarding their EU Accession” lists the requirements that these three countries must meet in order to meet the standards of HAZU in order to get Croatia’s consent and support on their road to EU membership. The document was published on Friday and sent to the Croatian government.
To support accession negotiations with Serbia, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts has defined as many as 14 conditions, some of them quite provocative and offensive. In the first and most important point, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts asks Serbia to renounce “great Serbian propaganda,” which also implies “renouncing the myth of Jasenovac,” but also dropping the critical attitude toward the character and work of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.
Other conditions include “Serbia recognizing that it committed an act of aggression against Croatia” in the 1990s war, which also implies “the compensation for war damages and issuing an apology.” Another condition relates to the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia being considered a “state church” whose position is equated with the religious rights of the Croatian minority in Serbia.
Among other conditions is the delimitation of the Danube River course (Sarengradska Ada), restitution of property to all those expelled during the wars, mutual recognition of rights of Serbian and Croatian minorities, recognition of the Croatian language as a minority language at “all levels” in Serbia, the recognition of “Croatian ethnic integrity to the Bunjevac minority,” the submission of documents on the people killed and missing during the 1990s wars, the handing over of all archives and documents relating to the events surrounding the Vukovar hospital also from the 1990s war, and the control of lithium exploitation in Serbia.
Reacting to the demands of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the executive committee of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) said that “despite their experience, SANU members were surprised by the primitive tone of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and its hatred expressed towards Montenegro and Serbia in terms of EU membership.”
“Without deluding ourselves that the international community, who has been tirelessly teaching us new values of civilization, will speak out (against these conditions) on their own accord and out of respect for all the victims of the Jasenovac death camp, we will not respond to accusations of those who shamelessly use the term “Jasenovac myth.” But it is good and useful to know what they think,” the SANU said in a statement.
(Blic, 25.05.2022)
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