Veterans' Affairs Minister Predrag Matic announced in Split on Saturday that the Homeland War Veterans Register would be made public before Croatia joined the European Union, which is set for mid-2013, adding that real veterans had no reason to be afraid or feel uncomfortable about its publication.
"We will clear up this situation before we enter the European Union," Matic told reporters on the city's waterfront promenade where he visited a fair of veterans' cooperatives, which was opened to mark the 21st anniversary of the establishment of the Croatian Army's 4th Guards Brigade.
Matic said that nearly 30,000 veterans were unemployed, and that there were more than 500 veterans' cooperatives, of which 407 were supported by the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs. He stressed that the veterans' cooperatives were proof that veterans were not "privileged and idle".
Matic said that veterans' cooperatives produced environmentally friendly health food, which was in demand both in Croatia and in the world, and that he would try to help them market their products through the Ministry of Tourism.
