THE Hungarian minority in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina is intensifying efforts to gain autonomy in the wake of the Kosovo conflict.
In a move likely to increase political pressure on President Slobodan Milosevic, the 300,000 ethnic Hungarians there are demanding the return of the wide-ranging autonomy they held until 1991. Their special status was similar to that enjoyed in the past by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. But it was removed following changes to the federal constitution forced through by Mr Milosevic.
In the aftermath of the Kosovo conflict, ethnic Hungarian leaders have now enlisted the support of Hungary in their efforts to persuade Belgrade to restore their autonomy. Vojvodina is the most prosperous region of Serbia. It derives its wealth from crops and oil. But due to the abolition of the province's autonomy, Belgrade now manages all its income. In 1995, the majority of Serb refugees from Croatia were settled in the northern province, which adversely affected its economy.
With a new flow of refugees now entering the region from Kosovo, Vojvodina's economy is under fresh pressure. Ethnic Hungarian leaders say it is unfair that the province should be made to pay for the mistakes and misdeeds of the Belgrade regime.
The demand for Hungarians to be granted "personal autonomy" - under which minority groups would be proportionally represented in different levels of government - was presented by Andras Agoston, chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Party of Vojvodina, during a meeting with Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister. It calls for the restoration of autonomy following a general election, which is widely expected to take place this autumn.
The plan was also raised at a Nato meeting on the Balkans' political future, where Mr Orban stated that "the protection of minority rights in Vojvodina enjoys a special place in the settlement of the crisis". Throughout the Kosovo conflict, many Vojvodina Hungarians lived in fear that Serb repression would spread to their region, although there were no reports of human rights violations there.
But recent threatening statements from Serb hard-line nationalists have persuaded ethnic Hungarian leaders of the need to regain autonomy. During the Kosovo conflict, for example, Istvan Csurka, leader of one ultra-nationalist party, said in a television interview that action should be taken to foil alleged attempts by the Hungarian minority in Vojvodina to secede from Serbia and seek unification with Hungary.
However, many Serbs in the province are actually backing the ethnic Hungarian campaign for autonomy as a means of escaping the tough international sanctions applied against Serbia. Dragan Veselinov, chairman of the Coalition of Vojvodina - the only party in the Serbian parliament to vote for the Rambouillet peace plan which failed to avert conflict in Kosovo - said he supported the idea of personal autonomy.
The coalition is now campaigning for recognition of Vojvodina as a European
region. Last week, it asked Romano Prodi, the European Commission
president, to allow citizens of Vojvodina to travel through European Union
countries without visas. Mr Veselinov said: "We want our own responsibility
for our own development. The people of Vojvodina cannot be held
responsible for the adventurous policy of Slobodan Milosevic."
Here we go...more fallout from Bubbaboon's life in a parallel universe...the G-7 is determined to turn all of the Balkans into UN protectorates for their energy games...out! out! sovereign Serbia!
Imagine that, a local government hopes to regain some of its former power before the Federal government took it away. Maybe Slobo centralized power for the "children". After all, as Hillary, the First Busybody, and her impeached husband have been telling us -- individuals can't be trusted to make their own decisions, people need the U.S. Federal government to take care of them. Regardless of whether they live in New York, Arkansas, Haiti, or Kosovo.
Well that's just tough for the Hungarians. Mr.Rubin the wavy haired silver tongued spokesman for the International Chef Boy ar dee Madeline Albright has spoken.
The level of disintegration in Yugoslavia has reached the desired temperature. Montenegro is NOT to declare it's independance for Serbia though one must believe it MUST surrender its port authority to the ukase's issuing from Washington and London.
I remember the attempts at 'fine tuning' the American economy. Problem was by the time one got the statistics in the channel had changed.
This appears to just be occuring to the beau brummels down at foggy bottom.
"the people of Vojvodina cannot be held responsible for the adventurous policy of Slobodan Milosevic "... The citizens of Vojvodina want to be able to travel through the European Union countries without visas, the people of Vojvodina would like to walk away with another segment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and staple it to neighboring Hungary because they find it hard to live with the consequences of being arbitrarily raped by trans-Atlantic imperialists and they call Milosevic " the adventurous one ". Do the Vojvodinites have T.V.,radio, phone or internet ? Do these brave souls know what NATO will do to their little province ? Do they need a visa to travel to Kosovo for a glimpse of New World Order induced independence ?
Mmmpf. Pay no attention. This silly damn British article doesn't even point out that Magyars are a minority in Vojvodina (a mistake pointed out to me by my friend Bojan, who was raised in Novi Sad and moved, with his Vojvodina Magyar wife, to Budapest when the Yugoslav economy started to go down the tubes).
The relevant figures were 45% Serb, 25% Hungarian, the rest "other" -- Gypsies, Croats, "unspecified Yugoslavian", etc. -- before the 200,000 or so (Serbian) refugees from the Bosnian war came to the province.
Vojvodina is, though, the richest province left in Yugoslavia, so that may by itself be enough to get the bombing started.... Not that NATO needs a reason....
Craig
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