Following their meeting in Belgrade on Monday, MFA State Secretary Zsolt Németh declared that Hungarian-Serbian relations had become very close and friendly over the past years, and Aleksandar Vučić, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, had played a major role in this.

Zsolt Németh recalled that Aleksandar Vučić had played a key role in the historical reconciliation process between Hungary and Serbia since it was he who submitted the proposal on reconcilliation to the Serbian Parliament. He added that the Serbian Parliament had passed the resolution with the support of the Serbian Progressive Party and the Hungarian Alliance of Vojvodina. 

The Hungarian State Secretary said it was likely that the Serbian Progressive Party would also be assuming a role in government following the elections, and he added that the two sides were planning on holding a joint cabinet session following the national elections.

Zsolt Németh pointed out that the Hungarian Government had made an important contribution to ensuring that Serbia was finally granted the status of EU candidate country and that the accession negotiations had begun between the EU and Serbia in January. 

The MFA State Secretary stressed that the issue of fundamental rights in Serbia’s accession process was a priority for Hungary. „We would like a solution for the regulation of the national councils in Serbia and of the regional autonomy in Vojvodina that would ultimately increase, and not decrease, the opportunities for ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina; moreover, the exemplary practice for regional and ethnic autonomy that characterizes Serbia could continue to serve the Hungarian community in Serbia as well as Hungarian-Serbian bilateral relations”, Zsolt Németh claimed.

Zsolt Németh emphasised the importance of political participation and stated that the Hungarians in Vojvodina were in a good position because they had a strong political representation in the Serbian Parliament. The Hungarians living in Vojvodina will again have an opportunity – for the first time in 104 years – to vote in the Hungarian parliamentary elections in April, and they should take advantage of that, he added.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)