The Office of the Office of the Minister of State for Hungarian Communities Abroad rated the decision of the Serbian Constitutional Court as a harsh cut of minority rights, which deemed two paragraphs of national minorities’ National Councils entirely unconstitutional and an additional eight paragraphs as partially unconstitutional.

The Office of the Minister of State emphasized the decision is truly shocking especially just one day after the European Parliament accepted the resolution on Serbia, which made the country eligible to start EU membership negotiations.

The Office of the Minister of State declared it is a positive change that the Serbian Constitutional Court strengthens fundamental minority autonomy and collective rights of minorities; although it is worrying that they  could remarkably cut some of the scope of the National Councils’ privileges.
It is of concern that this reduction focus primarily on native language education and public information in native language, although these are essential in preserving national identity. As the Office said, the decision is regretful in light of the harsh reduction of minorities’ rights, despite the Serbian Constitution states that a given level of human and minorities’ rights cannot be diminished.

They take it regrettable that the court deemed the cooperation of National Councils with the state institutions of Hungary unconstitutional, which – according to the Office – is a fundamental law of national minorities and fixed by the bilateral agreement on the protection of minority rights put into action by Hungary and Serbia too in 2004.

The Hungarian Government hopes that a solution is at hand and the Hungarian National Council will be able to carry on its work behalf on the Hungarian community of Vojvodina. The Office expressed its hope for the necessary changes in law will reflect the contents of the resolution approved by the EP on 16 January.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)