Summary:
The Croatian parliament, the Sabor, passed the Constitutional Law on the Protection of Minorities on 13 December. Though the law provides parliamentary representation for just ten of Croatia’s 23 official national minorities, the Rusyns are among the lucky ones.

According to the new law, minorities will be represented in the Sabor by at least five and no more than eight representatives. Serbs, the country’s largest minority by far, have been given the right to at least one and no more than three representatives. Croatia’s Italians and Hungarians will each have a representative as well. The Czechs and Slovaks will have a single representative between them.

The Rusyns will share a single representative with the Ukrainians, Germans, Austrians and Jews.

Members of minority communities will elect these representatives in special electoral districts. The law foresees the establishment of a Council of National Minorities and minority representation in local government, as well as an advisory body to deal with the rights of national minorities.

The law passed with a vote of 115 for, four opposed, two abstaining. Its passage fulfills one of the five political conditions for Croatian entry into the European Union.

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