Post by wbb on Feb 16, 2009 0:52:25 GMT -5
Serbia: Autonomy demand sparks separatism fears
Belgrade, 13 Feb. (AKI) - Serbia’s northern Vojvodina province has triggered a heated national debate by demanding more regional autonomy, which opposition and some members of the ruling coalition fear is a bid for future separatism.
Of Serbia’s 7.5 million population, some two million live in the province of Vojvodina, which already enjoys a degree of autonomy, including local government and a parliament with limited competences.
But local parliament recently adopted a new statute for the province, which provides for more legislative powers, financial independence, the right to conclude international agreements and to have its own diplomatic missions abroad.
About one half of Vojvodina's population are Serbs, while the rest is made up of more than 20 other ethnic groups, including 150,000 Hungarians. Minorities have their own media, schools and even a university in the Hungarian language.
However, local politicians, including some Serbs, have been calling for more political and financial independence from Belgrade and their demands have been defined in the new statute which still has to be approved by the Serbian parliament in Belgrade.
The sensitive issue has triggered a stormy debate, because Serbia is still fighting a diplomatic battle to retain control over their former southern province of Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians declared independence a year ago.
The new statute enjoys the support of pro-European president Boris Tadic and his Democratic Party, which has a strong electoral base in Vojvodina.
However, opposition politicians, including former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, have warned that the new statute was a first step towards separatism and further disintegration of the country.
Kostunica said the statute was “anti constitutional” and called on MPs to “pass the test of patriotism” and reject the statute in the parliament.
He further accused Tadic’s ruling coalition of “deliberately undermining the country’s constitutional order and Serbia itself”.
But Ivica Dacic, whose Socialist Party of Serbia is a member of the ruling coalition, said his deputies would vote against the statute. “The SPS is not against Vojvodina's autonomy, but is against the creation of another state in Serbia,” he said.
On the other hand, Balint Pastor the leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, said his party would quit the ruling coalition if the statute was killed in parliament.
A similar position was taken by Nenad Canak, a Serb, whose League of Vojvodina Social Democrats has spearheaded the drive for more autonomy.
The situation was further complicated by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who wrote to Tadic in order to kill the statute in parliament because it was “destructive for Serbia”.
The call provoked a wave of criticism from the statute supporters and non-governmental organisations, pointing out that the Church was separated from the state and should not interfere in political affairs.
As the debate has become more heated, Tadic has said that same parts of the statute might be revaluated, but its supporters vowed not to consent to any changes.
www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3015351875
"Statute unconstitutional, deeply anti-Serb"
BELGRADE -- Opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Serb Progressive Party (SNS) officials have today voiced their criticism of the draft Vojvodina statute.
DSS Economic Council chairman Nenad Popoviæ said that a provision in the draft, that would enable Vojvodina to collect its own taxes, is unconstitutional.
According to the Serbian Constitution, only the state of Serbia can collect taxes and then, according to laws, distribute them to users of public income funds.
Any other solution is unconstitutional, Popoviæ said in a written statement carried by Beta news agency.
Also in Belgrade on Sunday, SNS deputy leader Aleksandar Vuèiæ criticized the document, which is yet to make it to parliament for a debate, by saying that it is in contravention to the Constitution.
He described the proposed statute as "deeply anti-state and anti-Serb".
Vuèiæ told reporters in a news conference that his party is reacting to a recent call from President Boris Tadiæ to engage in a debate supported by arguments when it comes to the draft.
According to him, the statute is problematic starting with its preamble that cites the province's autonomy as a "historic right".
"The autonomy of Vojvodina is regulated by the Constitution of Serbia, not by some historic right or other, and any other interpretation is damaging the hierarchy of legal norms," Vuèiæ said, noting that preambles are found exclusively in constitutions, never in documents having lesser legal power.
He also quoted a provision in the draft which defines Vojvodina as a province of its citizens, which is contrary to the Constitution that defines Serbia as a state of the Serb people and all the citizens who live in it.
Vuèiæ also found fault with another definition, which describes Vojvodina as a "central European region", rather than a region of Serbia, and would give the province the possibility to sign inter-state agreements – something that falls under the strict jurisdiction of the Republic.
The Deputy SNS president criticized a provision that would allow for a Vojvodina academy of sciences and arts to be formed, and another that would make Hungarian, Croatian and other languages official.
The Serbian Constitution stipulates that the Serbian language and Cyrillic alphabet are official on the entire territory of Serbia.
Vuèiæ said that such "anti-constitutional" statute must not be adopted in parliament, and called on the ruling Democrats (DS), "above all on Bojan Pajtiæ", to engage in a televised debate on this document.
www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=02&dd=15&nav_id=57179
Belgrade, 13 Feb. (AKI) - Serbia’s northern Vojvodina province has triggered a heated national debate by demanding more regional autonomy, which opposition and some members of the ruling coalition fear is a bid for future separatism.
Of Serbia’s 7.5 million population, some two million live in the province of Vojvodina, which already enjoys a degree of autonomy, including local government and a parliament with limited competences.
But local parliament recently adopted a new statute for the province, which provides for more legislative powers, financial independence, the right to conclude international agreements and to have its own diplomatic missions abroad.
About one half of Vojvodina's population are Serbs, while the rest is made up of more than 20 other ethnic groups, including 150,000 Hungarians. Minorities have their own media, schools and even a university in the Hungarian language.
However, local politicians, including some Serbs, have been calling for more political and financial independence from Belgrade and their demands have been defined in the new statute which still has to be approved by the Serbian parliament in Belgrade.
The sensitive issue has triggered a stormy debate, because Serbia is still fighting a diplomatic battle to retain control over their former southern province of Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians declared independence a year ago.
The new statute enjoys the support of pro-European president Boris Tadic and his Democratic Party, which has a strong electoral base in Vojvodina.
However, opposition politicians, including former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, have warned that the new statute was a first step towards separatism and further disintegration of the country.
Kostunica said the statute was “anti constitutional” and called on MPs to “pass the test of patriotism” and reject the statute in the parliament.
He further accused Tadic’s ruling coalition of “deliberately undermining the country’s constitutional order and Serbia itself”.
But Ivica Dacic, whose Socialist Party of Serbia is a member of the ruling coalition, said his deputies would vote against the statute. “The SPS is not against Vojvodina's autonomy, but is against the creation of another state in Serbia,” he said.
On the other hand, Balint Pastor the leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, said his party would quit the ruling coalition if the statute was killed in parliament.
A similar position was taken by Nenad Canak, a Serb, whose League of Vojvodina Social Democrats has spearheaded the drive for more autonomy.
The situation was further complicated by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who wrote to Tadic in order to kill the statute in parliament because it was “destructive for Serbia”.
The call provoked a wave of criticism from the statute supporters and non-governmental organisations, pointing out that the Church was separated from the state and should not interfere in political affairs.
As the debate has become more heated, Tadic has said that same parts of the statute might be revaluated, but its supporters vowed not to consent to any changes.
www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3015351875
"Statute unconstitutional, deeply anti-Serb"
BELGRADE -- Opposition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Serb Progressive Party (SNS) officials have today voiced their criticism of the draft Vojvodina statute.
DSS Economic Council chairman Nenad Popoviæ said that a provision in the draft, that would enable Vojvodina to collect its own taxes, is unconstitutional.
According to the Serbian Constitution, only the state of Serbia can collect taxes and then, according to laws, distribute them to users of public income funds.
Any other solution is unconstitutional, Popoviæ said in a written statement carried by Beta news agency.
Also in Belgrade on Sunday, SNS deputy leader Aleksandar Vuèiæ criticized the document, which is yet to make it to parliament for a debate, by saying that it is in contravention to the Constitution.
He described the proposed statute as "deeply anti-state and anti-Serb".
Vuèiæ told reporters in a news conference that his party is reacting to a recent call from President Boris Tadiæ to engage in a debate supported by arguments when it comes to the draft.
According to him, the statute is problematic starting with its preamble that cites the province's autonomy as a "historic right".
"The autonomy of Vojvodina is regulated by the Constitution of Serbia, not by some historic right or other, and any other interpretation is damaging the hierarchy of legal norms," Vuèiæ said, noting that preambles are found exclusively in constitutions, never in documents having lesser legal power.
He also quoted a provision in the draft which defines Vojvodina as a province of its citizens, which is contrary to the Constitution that defines Serbia as a state of the Serb people and all the citizens who live in it.
Vuèiæ also found fault with another definition, which describes Vojvodina as a "central European region", rather than a region of Serbia, and would give the province the possibility to sign inter-state agreements – something that falls under the strict jurisdiction of the Republic.
The Deputy SNS president criticized a provision that would allow for a Vojvodina academy of sciences and arts to be formed, and another that would make Hungarian, Croatian and other languages official.
The Serbian Constitution stipulates that the Serbian language and Cyrillic alphabet are official on the entire territory of Serbia.
Vuèiæ said that such "anti-constitutional" statute must not be adopted in parliament, and called on the ruling Democrats (DS), "above all on Bojan Pajtiæ", to engage in a televised debate on this document.
www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=02&dd=15&nav_id=57179