Catalan scenario in Balkans: Does Istria have the right to separate from Croatia?

The outcome of the referendum in Catalonia, although formally illegal, will clearly completely change the future of Spain, writes the portal Index.hr and states that the last weeks have shown that the gap between Spain and Catalonia is huge. Croats find the referendum interesting for one more reason because Croatia has gone through something like that, not so long ago. Croatia also held a referendum that led to independence, but that was just a beginning, writes Index.hr.

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Although Croatia in 1991 and Catalonia today have significant differences, this issue is followed with interest in Croatia.

For two days now, Index says, the question of Istria is mentioned on the social networks, more precisely, if Istria has the right to independence, no matter if they have the legal rights, is there a possibility to open that question someday? 

Index writes that Istria is one of the rare Counties that are able to finance themselves, to be more precise, the residents of Istria pay much more to the budget than they get back from it which is 800 million kunas (around 107 million euros) annually.

Foto: Wikimedia/Jiří Bernard

Istra joined Croatia after the World War II when Tito and partisans returned to the motherland, but Catholic church played a large part in preserving the endangered Croatian entity in Istria. 

Istria was lost divided between Venice and Habsburg monarchy, and Croatian identity in Istria was in front of the fascists from Italy in the twenties and thirties of the last century, who went so far in "Italianizing" Istria that they smashed Glagolitic monuments to destroy the historical trail of Slovenian, Croatian identity.

However, with the partisan entry in Istria, it became a part of Croatia, which it still is today.

Foto: istra.hr

Istrian Democratic Assembly is in power in Istria as the only relevant regional political party in Croatia, and it is interesting that the Croatian Democratic Union never managed to become strong there like it did in other parts of the country, reports Index.

As said by the portal, although there are no more serious movements to promote Istrian independence, Istia's politicians, gathered mostly around IDA, don't hide that they want to see Istria as a region.

First of all, people of Istria are tired of being dissatisfied with a centralized state in which they pay much money for the budget and they receive a lot less from it.

Index said that numbers are in favor of the citizens and that they have the right to be unsatisfied - a study of the Institute of Public Finance "Effects of decentralization in the Republic of Croatia on the economic and fiscal position of the Istrian County" was presented in January 2015, which showed that in Istria makes an average of almost 800 million kunas every year, which is sufficient for the construction of one hospital and university campus annually.

Foto: Profimedia/Alamy, Pixabay

In other words, for the value of money Istrians gave for the construction of a new hospital in Pula in 2003, they could have constructed 16 hospitals, reported by the Istrian Democratic Assembly.

Although it is a report several years old, almost nothing has changed.

Moreover, with the arrival of Croatian Democratic Union on power, Karamarko, and then Plenkovic, clearly states that there will be nothing from the new region and that county will remain as it is, reports Index.

(Telegraf.co.uk / Tanjug)