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Zagreb - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Wednesday that 2 May marked the 180th anniversary of the first speech in the Croatian language in the Parliament by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, and he welcomed the initiative of the Matica Hrvatska association for a new law on the Croatian language.
The famous Croatian nobleman, historian, writer and politician Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski gave a historic speech in the Croatian Parliament on 2 May, 1847, by which he laid a solid foundation for the introduction of Croatian as an official language in public use, Jandroković said, recalling that Sakcinski called for the introduction of the Croatian language in schools and offices, so that it could eventually be introduced in public life as well.
"With his inspired speech, Kukuljević Sakcinski laid a solid foundation for what would follow four years later - the introduction of Croatian as an official language in public use," Jandroković said.
The decision to declare the Croatian language official was voted in the Croatian parliament on 23 October, 1847.
Language inseparable part of identity of Croatian people
Jandroković said that efforts to preserve the Croatian language expressed with the 1976 Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Literary Language should not be forgotten either.
After Croatia gained independence, the Croatian language found its place in the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia once and for all, Jandroković said.
He added that today the Croatian language is one of the 24 official languages of the European Union, contributing to European linguistic and cultural diversity.