CoE adopts report on minorities

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a report on the status of minorities in Vojvodina and the Romanian minority in Serbia. The resolution states that Serbia must promote diversity and tackle intolerance and discrimination. The second report on Serbia’s fulfillment of membership obligations towards the Council of Europe (CoE), which had been due for discussion at this session, was postponed until the next PACE session. CoE adopts report on minorities Had the discussion on incidents been discussed in 2004 when the initiative was first launched to assess the status of national minorities, it is likely that PACE would have devoted considerably more time and attention to the issue. Only 38 of PACE’s 318 officials attended the session in question, and the amendment was speedily adopted without any debate. The situation in Vojvodina was deemed satisfactory, as confirmed by Vojvodina Hungarian official Elvira Kovac, who added that there were still incidents today, but that they were a lot less frequent than before. “I personally insisted on deleting a section of the report stating that the incidents were minor. It’s not minor if someone is stabbed, if they are in hospital and have serious injuries,” she said. The report contains amendments referring to the problems of the Vlah and Romanian minorities in eastern Serbia, and a decision was taken to combine the two issues. The Romanian minority is mentioned in the report because it was the Romanian delegation that submitted the initiative, although, according to the head of the Serbian delegation at the CoE, Milos Aligrudic, there were no incidents to warrant a report. “What is not good in this whole business is that some texts slip by, and they are then seriously discussed and reach parliament in the end, which seems ridiculous to me, but okay, everything’s possible,” he said. In the resolution, Serbia is commended for forming a Human and Minority Rights Ministry and for the fact that national minorities supported the new government and are part of it. PACE wants Serbia to adopt laws on national councils and tackling discrimination as soon as possible. The resolution also expresses surprise at the dominant influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church in deciding which churches and religious groups can and cannot be officially recognized. The lack of recognition for the Romanian Orthodox Church was also criticized in the report. The debate on Serbia’s obligations towards the CoE was postponed until the next PACE session in January to allow an urgent debate on the implications of the war in Georgia. That report states that Serbia must conclude reform processes and practical implementation of reforms, and that reforms such as strengthening the role of parliament and scrapping the “imperative mandate”, whereby mandates belong to MPs and not parties, can only help facilitate Serbia’s EU integration. The PACE Monitoring Committee stated that it supported the new government and the arrest of Hague fugitive Radovan Karadzic, and called on the Serbian government to apply peaceful, democratic measures when defending its position on Kosovo.

CoE adopts report on minorities

Had the discussion on incidents been discussed in 2004 when the initiative was first launched to assess the status of national minorities, it is likely that PACE would have devoted considerably more time and attention to the issue.

Only 38 of PACE’s 318 officials attended the session in question, and the amendment was speedily adopted without any debate.

The situation in Vojvodina was deemed satisfactory, as confirmed by Vojvodina Hungarian official Elvira Kovač, who added that there were still incidents today, but that they were a lot less frequent than before.

“I personally insisted on deleting a section of the report stating that the incidents were minor. It’s not minor if someone is stabbed, if they are in hospital and have serious injuries,” she said.

The report contains amendments referring to the problems of the Vlah and Romanian minorities in eastern Serbia, and a decision was taken to combine the two issues.

The Romanian minority is mentioned in the report because it was the Romanian delegation that submitted the initiative, although, according to the head of the Serbian delegation at the CoE, Miloš Aligrudić, there were no incidents to warrant a report.

“What is not good in this whole business is that some texts slip by, and they are then seriously discussed and reach parliament in the end, which seems ridiculous to me, but okay, everything’s possible,” he said.

In the resolution, Serbia is commended for forming a Human and Minority Rights Ministry and for the fact that national minorities supported the new government and are part of it.

PACE wants Serbia to adopt laws on national councils and tackling discrimination as soon as possible.

The resolution also expresses surprise at the dominant influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church in deciding which churches and religious groups can and cannot be officially recognized.

The lack of recognition for the Romanian Orthodox Church was also criticized in the report.

The debate on Serbia’s obligations towards the CoE was postponed until the next PACE session in January to allow an urgent debate on the implications of the war in Georgia.

That report states that Serbia must conclude reform processes and practical implementation of reforms, and that reforms such as strengthening the role of parliament and scrapping the “imperative mandate”, whereby mandates belong to MPs and not parties, can only help facilitate Serbia’s EU integration.

The PACE Monitoring Committee stated that it supported the new government and the arrest of Hague fugitive Radovan Karadžić, and called on the Serbian government to apply peaceful, democratic measures when defending its position on Kosovo.