President Ivo Josipovic on Sunday attended the opening of the rebuilt headquarters of the Italian Association in the northern Adriatic town of Novigrad.
President Josipovic said this was an important day not only for the Italian minority in Croatia, but for Croatians as well.
"This is a joint holiday, as the opening of this home of friendship and understanding is a contribution to the Croatia I see, a Croatia of friendship, tolerance, multiculturalism, a European Croatia," he said, adding that if Croatia wanted to be part of Europe, it was at a watershed, in front of serious reforms and a serious job.
"No one should feel like a minority. Everyone should feel as though they are full members of this society," Josipovic, adding that Croatia, Italy and Slovenia showed at the Concert for Friendship in Trieste, Italy, two months ago that three could tango, too.
"That's the European tango," he said, adding that friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding had no alternative. "That's the only path to Europe, to the future and to safety."
Italian Ambassador Alessandro Pignatti said Croatian-Italian relations had never been better and that the Italian government, despite difficult times, had always endorsed the work of Italian associations in Istria.
"Italy strongly supports Croatia's accession to the European Union, when we will be part of the European family together," he said.
Furio Radin, president of the Italian Union and a member of the Croatian Parliament, said the Italian community was open to all who saw Italians as friends and was the exponent of a culture which he said was not seen as a minority in Istria, but as an integral part of the common world-view and identity.
"Istria can't be defined without Croatian and Italian cultures and it can't be understood without those components," he said.
Istria County prefect Ivan Jakovcic said the Italian Union had played a key role in Croatia's democratisation, and that Novigrad's Italian Association was another symbol of the modern and European Istria.
The president of the Novigrad Italian Association, Paola Legovich Hrobat, presented Josipovic with a honorary membership card.
The building's renovation cost about EUR 1 million. It was financed by the Italian government as part of cooperation between Trieste University and the Italian Union in Croatia.