Zagreb, (IKA) – On June 13, the minister of culture, Božo Biškupić, who is also the president of the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, met at the Ministry of Culture with representatives of the Evangelical Church in the Republic of Croatia, the Calvin Christian Reformed Church in Croatia, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Croatia and the Macedonian Orthodox Church in Croatia. After the conclusion of the meeting, a press conference was held at which all the participants in the meeting spoke. Minister Biškupić pointed out that such communication is customary practice. Therefore, the Commission holds regular meetings in order to help religious communities solve the problems they encounter. He said that the problems are complex. Individual religious communities have problems within themselves, upon which the Commission has no influence. However, there are problems with which the Government can help. He noted that Croatia has contracts with the Holy See as well as another fourteen Churches and religious communities, and yesterday the Government adopted the decision to sign a contract with the two Jewish communities. On behalf of the Calvin Christian Reformed Church of the Republic of Croatia, Bishop Endre Lang thanked the Commission for its work and its great understanding and assistance wherever possible. Bishop Lang noted legal problems that religious communities encounter, which in the first place are the result of the vagueness of the law, and spoke of the importance of respecting the internal organization of an individual Church or religious community. The general vicar of the Evangelical Church in the Republic of Croatia, Branko Berić, praised the implementation of the contract which is being completely fulfilled. As a curiosity, he mentioned that the contract was not only well assessed by the central Evangelical Church in Geneva but has been presented as a model to some other countries that are preparing to enter similar contracts. The president of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Emil Angelov, also spoke in a positive manner about the relations with the Croatian state, and particularly expressed his satisfaction that the voice of this Church can be heard at such meetings.
The representative of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Kirko Velinski, recalled that the implementation of the contract signed with this Church in 2003 had been successful. He pointed out that regarding respect for religious freedom and rights, Croatia is ahead of some European countries. In conclusion, he emphasized that it is the great desire of the Macedonian Orthodox Church to build its own church and parish office in Zagreb, and that he hoped that work would begin on this project in the year 2008. At the meeting, the information was presented that in the year 2008 the amount of 920,000 kunas was issued to the Evangelical Church, and that financial support would also be provided for the renovation of the parish residence. The Calvin Christian Reformed Church in Croatia will receive 970,000 kunas, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church 460,000 kunas and the Macedonian Orthodox Church 680,000 kunas. At the meeting, the Foreigners’ Act was mentioned and it was concluded that the provisions should stipulate the solutions regarding residence permits and working permits for religious officials more precisely.