Balkans War 1991, Vukovar; Photo by Peter Denton via Wikimedia Commons

When a border town of Vukovar decided to present new bilingual signs few weeks ago, a number of Croatian veterans took to streets and demanded “justice.” Not only that they were not going to be part of that “state-engineered treachery” that was supposedly “offending” national honor and memory of those who had laid their lives for Croatia, but they appeared determined not to allow Cyrillic alphabet in Croatia altogether. Bilingual signs in Vukovar were torn down in a show of force, and future protests, probably to take place in the capital of Zagreb, and even church gatherings and prayers were also announced. For a while it really seemed, at least judging by some readers’ comments in major Serbian and Croatian newspapers, that war between Belgrade and Zagreb is still not over.

Now, I am very much aware how slow social changes can really be and how difficult it can be to overcome past issues. Croatia has, for that matter, been rather successful in coming to terms with its recent past, I dare to say much better than Serbia has so far, but I am afraid that Croatian entry to the EU will become meaningless for other Western Balkans states unless official Zagreb does not engage in a wide campaign against those destructive nationalist forces that took part in or supported the recent protests. This issue is not only a measure of a simple respect of law, but rather a question of a value set that exists in today’s Croatian society. Although Croatia has joined the Union, it obviously still has a long way to go before reaching that point where using one’s own alphabet ceases to be of any particular relevance. At the end of the day, alphabet itself is not only unalienable right of Serbs living in Croatia, but, much more than that, it is a matter of cultural heritage of the state in question.

Therefore, what official Zagreb needs to do is take matter into its own hands and, precisely as PM of Croatia said a few days ago, insist on respect of law, nothing more and definitely nothing less that. While some Croats may have hard time accepting this, most Croatian citizens, I believe, would welcome such an engagement on the part of their government. It would really be a pity seeing Croatia give right of way to that nationalist front that, all things being equal, sees Serbs as personae non gratae in Croatia. However, if this really happens, and I seriously doubt in such turn of events, then letting go of the war and opening a new chapter will not be possible. Thus, as one Croatian journalist wrote in his recent op-ed, it seems that many Croats still live the war of the 1990s simply because, all things being equal, they would have very little to look for in a life that not overburdened by the warring past.