Statute of Vojvodina attacks linked to loss of Vojvodina fears

 (MTI) – Serbians fear losing territory in Vojvodina, and this fear is at the root of current attacks against a statute adopted by the Serbian parliament in 2009 on recognising Vojvodina (Vajdasag) as an autonomous province in which traditional multiculturalism is preserved, academic Tibor Varady said today.

The Serbian constitutional court ruled last December that the statutes of Vojvodina — which despite the clause that Vojvodina is an inseparable part of Serbia — need to be redrafted within six months. Certain sections of the law on national councils were also found unconstitutional and many of their acquired rights have been cut back.

The virtual dismantling of the Statute of Vojvodina and the national councils in Serbia are rooted in the “Kosovo tragedy”, a great trauma for Serbia, said Varady, a professor of the Central European University in Budapest and Emory University in Atlanta.