How much is freedom of speech worth for the Serbian community in the Croatian budget

Is the decision of the Council for National Minorities to reduce funds for the weekly Novosti primarily an attack on media freedom or an attack on the position of Serbs in Croatia? Or it's cheap politics Homeland Movement?

Although the Council for National Minorities in Croatia should act autonomously and independently of the political constellation in the Parliament, everything indicates that the recent decision (on April 24) to reduce the financial resources allocated to the weekly Novosti is primarily politically motivated.

Policečtowards decisions against the Serbian minority

Immediately after the decision of the umbrella body of national minorities in Croatia that the newspaper of the Serbian minority will receive a third less funding in the future - 400.000 euros instead of the current 610.000 per year - the smaller partner in the coalition government of Andrej Plenković, Domovinski pokret, announced on its Facebook page: "What we promise, we achieve - reduced funding to the weekly News"

And in his address at the Council session, Furio Radin, the representative of the Italian minority in the Parliament, clearly emphasized: "Reduction of resources News for 200.000 euros is a political act."

This is also confirmed by Žarko Puhovski, a philosopher and political analyst from Zagreb. In an interview with DW, however, he emphasizes that the Council for National Minorities had a political background from the beginning:

"The whole concept of minority protection is political, in order to avoid objections from abroad, primarily from Germany. And in this particular case, it was now a matter of a political promise by a smaller partner in the ruling coalition, the Homeland Movement (DP), which had as the main point of its election program the reduction of the influence of the 'notorious Pupovac', as they said, on Croatian politics and the prevention of alleged anti-Croat activities News. "

Puhovski believes that this is primarily about the daily political interests of the DP "which wants to position itself as the only real right-wing party in the country. At the same time, in the Croatian context, they are right-wing, first of all because of their 'Serbo-Zederism', because they are strongly anti-Serb oriented."

Not only folklore and folk customsčaji

Although the Council for National Minorities its decision to reduce funds News he did not explain - and he is not obliged to do so - Council President Tibor Varga stated in a short statement to journalists after the session that it was not a political decision and that the Council acted independently. He said that the decision was not made under the political pressure of the Homeland Movement, but that it was about funding programs of cultural autonomy such as information, publishing, cultural manifestations and cultural amateurism - but not political media content.

Chief editor News, Andrea Radak, in an interview with DW, points out that this is hard to believe, and that it also contradicts the task of the Council, which should improve the participation of minorities in the public life of the country.

"Tibor Varga said that the Council finances programs of cultural autonomy, but there are no funds for political content. But that criterion was applied only to News, and not on others. To that extent, it is an arbitrary decision, not a principled one."

Radak notes that members of national minorities cannot be reduced to just that one feature.

"They are also political citizens of this country, their specific problems do not exclude other problems and topics, such as the issue of pensions, affordable housing or the level of wages. A clear line cannot be drawn here. This creates an artificial division with the aim of ghettoizing members of national minorities, making them second-class citizens who cannot participate equally in the political life of the country, but should only deal with folklore, folk customs and similar things," says our interlocutor.

Media discipline

In addition, News are a problem for the Homeland Movement not only because they are a newspaper of the Serbian community, but also because they write critically about that party, Andrea Radak believes.

"We write about their anti-minority policies, about cooperation with extreme right-wing parties in the region, and even with those who have territorial claims against Croatia. They have a very specific motive for wanting to stop our writing," the editor-in-chief is convinced. News.

That's why this attack on News has a broader meaning, especially in the context of increasing pressures on media freedom around the world.

"The Homeland Movement admires Orbán's achievements, especially when it comes to the media. They are not only asking for a complete abolition of funding News, but also demand a change in the entire media landscape in Croatia - so that one must no longer write against the Croatian state, the Homeland War, and the like. It is clear that there is an intention to limit media freedom and media pluralism," says Radak.

He assesses the situation in the media in the country as generally bad, and he cites as examples not only the current pressure on News, but also a wave of layoffs at HRT and in other media houses. In addition, print media could hardly survive without some kind of financial support from public sources - either through reduced VAT, dependence on public company advertisements or through the overflow of funds from city and municipal budgets, primarily to local media.

A lawsuit is being prepared.

This reduction in funds will certainly have negative consequences for the editorial office News, but the editor-in-chief points out that there will be no layoffs or salary cuts. One possible measure could be a reduction in circulation.

At the same time, legal steps against this decision are being considered, including filing a lawsuit - both before domestic and international courts - due to discrimination. The employee believes that they are in the case News both criteria for the assessment of discriminatory treatment are met: on the one hand, damage was caused, and on the other hand, this harmful action was caused by belonging to a national minority - in this case, a Serbian one.

European regulations require that the financing of the activities of national minorities be based on clear, non-discriminatory and stable criteria. It is not yet known when the lawsuit will be filed - all the necessary documentation is currently being collected.