Background During the
Croatian War of Independence, a self-proclaimed
Serb Autonomous Region SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (Eastern Slavonia) was formed along the
Danube river in eastern Croatia. SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia was
ethnically cleansed of its non-Serb population and it became part of the self-proclaimed
Republic of Serbian Krajina. Within the Republic of Serbian Krajina, Eastern Slavonia was geographically separated from the rest of the entity, preserved certain institutional specificity, and contrary to the rest of Krajina which aligned itself with
Republika Srpska, Eastern Slavonia closely aligned its policy with the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Several Serb military and political officials, including Milošević, were later indicted and in some cases jailed for war crimes committed during and after the conflict in Eastern Slavonia. In the summer of 1995, the
Croatian Army took control of the Republic of Serbian Krajina in operations
Flash and
Storm. The only area of Croatia that remained under Serb control was Eastern Slavonia. Contrary to Krajina, the international community under the United States leadership opposed military solution in Eastern Slavonia and insisted on reintegration based on preservation of the multi-ethnic character of the region. Opposition to a military solution was fueled by the need not to undermine peace efforts in Bosnia and by the humanitarian consequences of the previous two operations. Contrary to Krajina it was expected that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would get involved in the conflict in Eastern Croatia potentially leading to further escalation. After Croatian expression of readiness to intervene militarily, international community efforts and agreement of government in Belgrade local Serb leaders concluded that an agreement is a necessity if they do not want to face the same fate as those in the western parts of
Krajina. Meanwhile,
Slobodan Milošević and
Franjo Tuđman reached a consensus via the
Dayton Agreement and on 12 November, the
Erdut Agreement ended the war in eastern
Croatia. The Erdut agreement guaranteed the Serbs "
the highest level of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms". The Serb community was given the right to "
appoint a joint Council of Municipalities" basis on which the body was formed. The council is one of the founding members of the
Serb National Council.
History of the Municipal Cooperation in Croatia Forms of the state-organized or free municipal organization were known in the Croatian legal system since the time of the
Socialist Republic of Croatia within the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The so-called communities of municipalities were established in the 1974 constitution as first-level administrative units within the republic. From 1986 their self-governing rights were partially limited. The concept of a free municipal association was used by Serb nationalists in Croatia at an early stage of the conflict in the formation of the self-proclaimed
Republic of Serbian Krajina. At that time Croatian Serb politician
Jovan Rašković argued for the creation of the "integral region" via the establishment of an Association of Municipalities. While the Croatian legal system at the time formally permitted such a form of municipal organization the move was perceived as highly controversial and led to some of the first clashes. In the second half of the year, they asked Transitional Administrator
Jacques Paul Klein to keep the region as an Association of Serb Municipalities with executive powers. Commission expressed its opinion that revised Constitutional Act should: Already before the end of the UNTAES mission on 15 January 1998 Croatian Parliament suspended implementation of certain elements of the
Constitutional Law on Human Rights and Freedoms and Rights of National and Ethnic Communities or Minorities in the Republic of Croatia related to territorial autonomy of the Autonomous Districts of Knin and Glina. In that respect the law was not fully in force and both the Government and the Venice Commission favored introduction of a new constitutional act whereby the commission recommended that “
The rights of national minorities acquired by international agreements before the date this constitutional act takes effect may not be restricted or changed by this Constitutional Act”. Number of meetings took place between the 1997 Government's decision on establishment of the Joint Council of Municipalities and 1999 registration in which Serb political representatives and members of Croatian Government negotiated the appropriate format of registration of the new entity. Representatives of the council requested that together with its sui-generis nature it should have properties of public-legal entity. President of the
Independent Democratic Serbian Party Vojislav Stanimirović condemned MP
Vesna Pusić (then-President of the National Committee for Monitoring Accession Negotiations with EU). At the Joint Council of Municipalities Emergency Council Meeting on the next day then President
Dragan Crnogorac condemned statements by Pusić,
Ingrid Antičević-Marinović,
Josip Leko and
Zoran Vinković. He also said;
We are not autonomists or separatists, we are legally elected representatives in the local government and members of the Council. The Joint Council of Municipalities is the target of sharp criticism by the Croatian right-wing groups. The
Croatian Party of Rights claims that the Council represents a continuation and continuity of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia. Since the
2013 enlargement of the European Union when Croatia joined the Union as its 28th member state the country is faced with the rise of nationalism and intolerance towards minorities. Those developments pushed the Council of Europe to express alarm over the rise of
right-wing extremism and
neofascism in Croatia. One of the first escalation of increased right-wing sentiments happened in 2013 in Vukovar and the rest of the country with the
Anti-Cyrillic protests in Croatia. Joint Council of Municipalities called press conference related to protests which attracted the highest media interest since the end of the UN led reintegration in 1997. At the conference Milorad Pupovac called politicians "not to play with fire" and warned then president of the
Croatian Democratic Union Tomislav Karamarko not to interfere into legal field of the interpretation of the
Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia. Since the
2016 elections new Prime Minister
Andrej Plenković is trying to ease growing political tensions by controlling his own party and leading it towards more moderate course. However, financial and
social pressure which the Joint Council of Municipalities faced triggered renewed calls for the change in its legal status. At the Third Grand Assembly of the
Serb National Council which took place in the
Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in February 2018 and was attended by both the
President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and the
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić Assembly adopted pronouncement requesting that "
institutions of the Serb community, and the Serb National Council and the Joint Council of Municipalities in particular, must be granted the status of minority self-governments". President of the Republic of Croatia subsequently issued following statement: == Municipalities ==