Provincial government head rejects accusations

NOVI SAD Bojan Pajtic accused the authorities in an interview on Thursday of attempting to "extinguish" Vojvodina's autonomy. At the same time, the head of the province's government - who comes from the ranks of the Democratic Party (DS) - rejected the accusations leveled against him that he was promoting separatism. Provincial government head rejects accusations He said those claims were "nonsensical". "Should we accept for one power after another to be abolished and to, in that way, slowly extinguish the autonomy of Vojvodina? We will not agree to that," Pajtic told Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV). According to him, after his government adopted a draft declaration on protection of Vojvodina's rights, "a horrible campaign and calls to lynchings" followed, aimed against the provincial authorities, along with the "nonsensical" accusations of separatism. "What separatism! There has never been separatism in Vojvodina and there never will be. The state (republic) authorities are making up enemies to hide the results of the negotiations on Kosovo," he asserted, and added that a rally scheduled for Friday in Novi Sad under the slogan, "Stop to the breaking up of Serbia", was "directed against the authorities in Vojvodina". Pajtic also accused the ruling parties on the state level - where his Democrats are in opposition - of having the goal of bringing down the provincial government "at any price". Pajtic then accused the authorities of violating the laws regulating Vojvodina's powers, taking away its property and violating the Constitution, and criticised President Tomislav Nikolic for referring to his government as "so-called" during an interview last week. He said the text of the draft could be modified in a debate at the Committee for Legal and Constitutional Issues of the Vojvodina assembly, but said the declaration would not be withdrawn, despite the fact that the assembly's president, Istvan Pastor, asked for this to be done. Pajtic then said his coalition partners from the LSV and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) did not speak the truth when they said they were not acquainted with the draft declaration, and added that the two parties' representatives in the provincial government "voted in favor of this text". Bojan Pajtic (FoNet, file) "We want him to resign" Meanwhile, Igor Mirovic of the ruling Serb Progressives (SNS) - an opposition party on the provincial level - said that the key demand during the protest tomorrow will be the withdrawal of the draft declaration, and resignation of Bojan Pajtic, which should trigger early provincial elections. Mirovic, who heads the SNS Council for Vojvodina, told a news conference on Thursday that the rally would be peaceful "despite the announcements about the possibility of staged incidents by the declaration's authors". He called on the citizens to take part in a peaceful protest, and welcomed the appeal of Istvan Pastor for the draft declaration to be withdrawn from the assembly's procedure. Mirovic stressed that his party would not give up on its demand for Pajtic to resign, and accused him of "destroying all Vojvodina's resources, among them the Development Bank of Vojvodina, Tesla Bank, and provincial funds". "We will bring up Pajtic's resignation during every future session of the Vojvodina assembly, because we believe that early provincial elections are the strongest cure for the present situation in Vojvodina," this SNS official concluded. Draft declaration The Vojvodina provincial government published on its website on April 11 a draft declaration on the protection of constitutional and legal rights of the autonomous province, which among other things points to multiple violations of constitutional principles and legal regulations related to the rights and competencies of institutions in the province. The document calls on state bodies to work with the provincial and local administrations to elevate the level of honoring prescribed procedures and unquestionable rights and obligations. The proposed document says a democratic society must respect historic, national, cultural, religious and political pluralism, and be a natural home to autonomy through which, without jeopardizing the rights of others, the feeling of belonging to a particular ethnic group, and the region as a whole, is respected. It is added that Vojvodina's autonomy also entails constitutionally guaranteed respect for diversity, decentralization of government, delegation of competencies, and independent organization of certain areas of interest to the citizens of the province. "The fact is that in political practice to date, there were no periods when these indisputable principles were violated to a significant degree," says the draft declaration. "Disagreements escalated in late 2012 and were related to the matter of financing for Vojvodina," reads the document, which adds that even a constitutional guarantee that the provincial budget must amount to at least seven percent of the state budget, three sevenths of which are earmarked for capital spending, has not helped a great deal. The conflict culminated after the passage of changes to the Budget System Law and the 2013 state budget bill, which led the Vojvodina government to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the amendments to the Budget System Law. "On the other hand, the state government has started using provincial property in an unconstitutional manner without consulting provincial bodies. For example, considerable property of which the province has guaranteed ownership, was illegally transferred to the City of Novi Sad without consent," it is written in the draft. Beta Tanjug

Provincial government head rejects accusations

He said those claims were "nonsensical".

"Should we accept for one power after another to be abolished and to, in that way, slowly extinguish the autonomy of Vojvodina? We will not agree to that," Pajtić told Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV).

According to him, after his government adopted a draft declaration on protection of Vojvodina's rights, "a horrible campaign and calls to lynchings" followed, aimed against the provincial authorities, along with the "nonsensical" accusations of separatism.

"What separatism! There has never been separatism in Vojvodina and there never will be. The state (republic) authorities are making up enemies to hide the results of the negotiations on Kosovo," he asserted, and added that a rally scheduled for Friday in Novi Sad under the slogan, "Stop to the breaking up of Serbia", was "directed against the authorities in Vojvodina".

Pajtić also accused the ruling parties on the state level - where his Democrats are in opposition - of having the goal of bringing down the provincial government "at any price".

Pajtić then accused the authorities of violating the laws regulating Vojvodina's powers, taking away its property and violating the Constitution, and criticised President Tomislav Nikolić for referring to his government as "so-called" during an interview last week.

He said the text of the draft could be modified in a debate at the Committee for Legal and Constitutional Issues of the Vojvodina assembly, but said the declaration would not be withdrawn, despite the fact that the assembly's president, Ištvan Pastor, asked for this to be done.

Pajtić then said his coalition partners from the LSV and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) did not speak the truth when they said they were not acquainted with the draft declaration, and added that the two parties' representatives in the provincial government "voted in favor of this text".

"We want him to resign"

Meanwhile, Igor Mirović of the ruling Serb Progressives (SNS) - an opposition party on the provincial level - said that the key demand during the protest tomorrow will be the withdrawal of the draft declaration, and resignation of Bojan Pajtić, which should trigger early provincial elections.

Mirović, who heads the SNS Council for Vojvodina, told a news conference on Thursday that the rally would be peaceful "despite the announcements about the possibility of staged incidents by the declaration's authors".

He called on the citizens to take part in a peaceful protest, and welcomed the appeal of Ištvan Pastor for the draft declaration to be withdrawn from the assembly's procedure.

Mirović stressed that his party would not give up on its demand for Pajtić to resign, and accused him of "destroying all Vojvodina's resources, among them the Development Bank of Vojvodina, Tesla Bank, and provincial funds".

"We will bring up Pajtić's resignation during every future session of the Vojvodina assembly, because we believe that early provincial elections are the strongest cure for the present situation in Vojvodina," this SNS official concluded.

Draft declaration

The Vojvodina provincial government published on its website on April 11 a draft declaration on the protection of constitutional and legal rights of the autonomous province, which among other things points to multiple violations of constitutional principles and legal regulations related to the rights and competencies of institutions in the province.

The document calls on state bodies to work with the provincial and local administrations to elevate the level of honoring prescribed procedures and unquestionable rights and obligations.

The proposed document says a democratic society must respect historic, national, cultural, religious and political pluralism, and be a natural home to autonomy through which, without jeopardizing the rights of others, the feeling of belonging to a particular ethnic group, and the region as a whole, is respected.

It is added that Vojvodina's autonomy also entails constitutionally guaranteed respect for diversity, decentralization of government, delegation of competencies, and independent organization of certain areas of interest to the citizens of the province.

"The fact is that in political practice to date, there were no periods when these indisputable principles were violated to a significant degree," says the draft declaration.

"Disagreements escalated in late 2012 and were related to the matter of financing for Vojvodina," reads the document, which adds that even a constitutional guarantee that the provincial budget must amount to at least seven percent of the state budget, three sevenths of which are earmarked for capital spending, has not helped a great deal.

The conflict culminated after the passage of changes to the Budget System Law and the 2013 state budget bill, which led the Vojvodina government to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the amendments to the Budget System Law.

"On the other hand, the state government has started using provincial property in an unconstitutional manner without consulting provincial bodies. For example, considerable property of which the province has guaranteed ownership, was illegally transferred to the City of Novi Sad without consent," it is written in the draft.