State Secretary for National Policy Árpád János Potápi received the leaders of the Democratic Community of Hungarians in Croatia (HMDK), President Sándor Jakab and Executive Chair Róbert Jankovics in his office on Thursday.
During the course of the talks, the parties reviewed topical issues concerning the Hungarian community in Croatia, with special regard to the situation of native language educational institutions which struggle with grave problems due to the low number of children. As part of the consultation concerning the latest national policy programmes, they discussed the details of the Croatian plans related to the Year of Vocational Training Programme and the Petőfi Sándor Programme launched on 15 March 2015 with a view to helping scattered Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin.
The parties also covered topics related to the next meeting of the Hungarian-Croatian Minority Mixed Committee. The State Secretary for National Policy confirmed that, under the auspices of the partnership formed with HMDK, the Government continues to rely on the organisation’s assistance in the expedited naturalisation proceedings. The leaders of HMDK expressed their solidarity with fellow-countrymen in Transcarpathia who find themselves in a difficult situation at present, and said that, in cooperation with the Community of Hungarian Youths in Croatia, they started a collection of donations for Hungarian families in Transcarpathia.