Fund for Programmes of Cultural Autonomy of National Minorities
The political and legal framework defining the position of national minorities is derived from the Constitution (1990, rev. 2001, 2010, 2014) and the Constitutional Law on Rights of National Minorities (2002, rev. 2010, 2011), which are also the basis for the development of this measure. The key objective of the measure is to have a special fund to support activities and projects by national minorities, which also includes cultural projects in the field of arts and heritage, media, events and festivals as well as various projects promoting education, social cohesion and intercultural dialogue.
The main feature of the measure is to provide funding for diverse artistic and cultural projects by all officially recognized national minorities in Croatia. There are 22 officially organised minorities in Croatia: Albanians, Austrians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Russians, Ruthenians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Serbs, Turks, Ukrainians, and Vlachs. The majority of supported programmes are predominantly traditional artistic and cultural activities, e.g., oriented to preserving the language, nurturing folk traditions, organising exhibitions, acting and reciting groups, supporting publishing in the language of the minorities, etc.
The measure is expected to help supporting the cultural autonomy of all national minorities in the Republic of Croatia, provide for better promotion of arts and culture of national minorities in different parts of Croatia, and thus contribute to improving the position of national minorities in Croatia.
The funds allocated for the year 2017 amounted to 31.839.500,00 Kuna (approx. 4.245.266EUR).
The report on implementation of the measure is delivered by the Council for National Minorities on a yearly basis to the Parliament. It provides for a detailed analysis on allocation of funding and programmes delivered through the implementation of the measure.