Italians & Croats Upset Each Other

[Anna]

The Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini will refer Croatia to the European Union over its block on Italian citizens purchasing property in Croatia. Fini objects to all other citizens of EU countries, except Italy, being able to freely buy property in Croatia.

According to the Foreign Minister, Croatian reasoning is that Croatian citizens are not allowed to purchase property in Italy - but this has recently been changed, so he believes the reverse ruling should also be lifted.

On a similar subject:
The Italian government announced a new law allowing all those born (and their children) in Italian occupied parts of Croatia during World War II (the actual dates of occupation were April 1941 - Sept 1943) to claim Italian citizenship. As Italy occupied almost 1/3 of Croatia - including nearly all islands - this means a large number of Croats, with otherwise absolutely no Italian link, are now entitled to Italian citizenship! Croatian politicians claim that this move with be a possible "Italianisation of Croatia by the back door".

So far some Croats have already been able to claim Italian citizenship, but this was because they were born in areas ruled directly by Italy since just after World War I. This areas include the whole of Istria, the cities of Rijeka and Zadar, and some islands (e.g. Vis).

[BrankoL]

Good news for some Croats, as now they will be entitled to Italian pensions ( 4 times higher), and Italian Social security payments.

Would you change your nationality these benefits? YES!!!

[Slatkica]

Anna,

do you by any chance have the news link to this information becuase it would be very helpful!

[BrankoL]

Here it is in Croatia, maybe Anna will provide you with another source:

www.jutarnji.hr/clanak/art-2006,3,4,italija_nekretnine,14970.jl

[Mirko]

More on this subject in Croatian (from Novi list, Rijeka):

"ITALIJA, SLOVENIJA I HRVATSKA DRŽAVLJANSTVA DIJELE BEZ BILATERALNIH SPORAZUMA, A SLIÈNO PLANIRAJU MADJARSKA I POLJSKA IAKO SE BRUXELLES PROTIVI
Podjela putovnica prijeti kaosom u srednjoj Europi

Zakonom o državljanstvu Italija jednostrano krši pariški mirovni sporazum I osimski sporazum, a još 1963. godine potpisana je u Strasbourgu konvencija o ogranièavanju dvojnih državljanstava

Piše Denis ROMAC

RIJEKA – Iako su u Rimu tvrdili da je rijeC o »sretnoj koincidenciji«, teško da je usvajanje zakona kojim Italija daje pravo na državljanstvo hrvatskim i slovenskim državljanima, potomcima onih koji su nakon Austrougarske pali pod Italiju, baš sluèajno palo na 9. veljaèe, dan uoèi Dana sjeCanja na žrtve fojbi.
Njegovo donošenje nije sluèajno palo ni u predizborno ozraèje, neposredno uoèi raspuštanja parlamenta, nakon što se donošenje zakona oteglo samo zato što je opozicija željela zaoštriti uvjete za talijansko državljanstvo poznavanjem talijanskog jezika i kulture.
RijeC je o izmjeni talijanskog zakona o državljanstvu iz 1992. godine, koji se odnosio na pripadnike talijanske zajednice u Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji, koji je 2000. godine proširen, dok je najnovija njegova dopuna najšira, jer više ne inzistira na talijanskoj narodnosti, nego na talijanskom državljanstvu predaka.
Zanimljivo je da se zakon iz 1992. izrijekom odnosi na one u »Republici Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji«, dok najnoviji talijanski zakon spominje samo one naseljene u »Istri, Rijeci i Dalmaciji«, što, naravno, na zabrinjavajuæi nCèin posve mijenja duh zakona iz 1992. godine. Kad bi bila rijeè samo o Talijanima, radilo bi se o dvadesetak tisuCa osoba, dok proširena verzija taj broj uveCava i za nekoliko puta, iako je teško oCekivati da æe svi oni koji imaju tu moguCnost pohrliti na šaltere talijanske ambasade i konzulata.

[mambo]

I think that almost every person, born during that time, will apply immediately.

I know an elder woman here in Porec and she has an Italian pension. In Italy it may not be a lot, but here it is a hell of a lot of money. She is now living comfortable, doesn't have to worry about how to make ends meet, she can even support the daughter and her family.

I can understand why Croatia is angry, I think every country would be angry if their neighbor starts offering passports and nationality, pensions etc to their citizens.

So I assume that we will see a solution coming soon, where Italians will be allowed to buy houses again. To be honest, I don't think we will see an invasion of Italians. The economy in Italy is also in a bad shape (like the rest of Europe) and prices here are still rediculous.