http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region.php?yyyy=2014&mm=08&dd=13&nav_id=91276ZAGREB -- The Constitutional Court of Croatia ruled against a referendum on Cyrillic script, saying that the referendum question was not in line with the Constitution.The Croatian parliament sent the referendum question concerning bilingualism for constitutional review. "The civic initiative, The HQ for the Defense of Croatian Vukovar called for a referendum," the Beta news agency is reporting.
The right-wing organization bringing together veteran associations last year started organizing sometimes violent protests against Serbian Cyrillic script being used on bilingual signs on public buildings in the town of Vukovar, where Serbs enjoy this right as they make up a third of the population.
In late 20013, the group sent nearly 600,000 signatures supporting a referendum to amend the Law on Ethnic Minority Rights, that would allow a minority to officially use its language and script - only if it made up at least one half of the population in a community.
The Croatian government said several times that reducing minority rights was unacceptable and that a referendum would not take place "regardless of how many signatures are collected."
"The HQ for the Defense of Croatian Vukovar" said they were not satisfied with the court's decision as they will not be able to realize their idea in the whole of Croatia, but said they are pleased that the court "confirmed some of their positions."
The group's legal representative Vlado Iljkić told the Hina news agency that "if he understood it correctly, the Constitutional Court has sent the whole thing to the level of the Vukovar City Council."
He added he was also pleased by the fact the court confirmed some of their positions - namely, that the issue of bilingualism "is not a basic human issue, but above all, a political one."
Topic: Croatian court against referendum on Cyrillic (Read 3553 times)