Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday that the recent ruling by the High Administrative Court in the Dajla case which quashed former Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic's decision to return ownership of the property in dispute to the state from the Porec-Pula diocese proved that the former minister's action was unlawful.
"That's what happens when the government gets involved in administration where it's not supposed to and when someone tries to take back a gift after ten years," Milanovic said.
The High Administrative Court passed down a final ruling on 21 March quashing the former minister's decision of August 2011 when ownership of the Dajla property was returned to the state. Bosnjakovic's action invalidated all decisions by Istria's county from 1997 to 2002 concerning the restitution of property to the Catholic Church, specifically the Porec-Pula Diocese.
Bosnjakovic's decision was prompted by disputes within the Church between the diocese and the Holy See due to the Vatican's dissatisfaction with the way the diocese was managing the abbey and therefore decided to give it back to the Benedictine order from Praglia, Italy who resided in the abbey until 1945. The Croatian government at the time headed by former PM Jadranka Kosor considered that this was an attempt to revise the 1975 Treaty of Osimo under which Italian property owners were compensated for confiscated property in Istria and Dalmatia.
The Chairman of the Croatian Conference of Bishops (HBK) Media Committee, Rijeka Archbishop Ivan Devcic, told a press conference later on Thursday that bishops had not discussed the matter during their current session.
"That is a matter between Porec-Pula Diocese, the Dajla parish and the Praglia abbey in Italy and the Holy See, where the matter was referred to after it could not be resolved", he said adding that the HBK became involved only later.
He underscored that the bishops respected the court's ruling and trusted that the judgement was made on the principle of justice.
