Government's Declaration on Vojvodina: Revival of Secessionism Obligates Authorities to Act

Newspapers (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/)

The latest events in the northern Serbian province, a revival of separatist ideas and movements, public advocacy of ideas of a Vojvodina nation, language and Orthodox church, as well as the announcement of adoption of some Vojvodina Platform, obligate us to protect the territorial integrity of the Serbian state through action in the social and political sphere.

This is written in the introduction to the text of the People's Declaration of Vojvodina, the adoption of which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has announced for Sretenje (Serbian Statehood Day), Feb. 15.

"Vojvodina is not merely a part of Serbia, Vojvodina is Serbia. Vojvodina is the first name, and Serbia the last name. Just like there is no Serbia without Vojvodina, so Vojvodina cannot exist outside Serbia," reads the declaration, published by the Politika daily as a special supplement to its Feb. 14 issue.

The declaration states that "Vojvodina is an expression of European values, a community of all citizens who live in the territory of the autonomous province, just as it is an unbreakable part of the national, political, constitutional, and cultural identity of modern-day Serbia," and that "these spiritual verticals do not annul each other, rather they complement each other." 

According to the document, "promoting other particularist, autonomist, and even separatist and anti-Serbian content is an extreme deviation and, consequently, a complete negation of the great ideals Vojvodina is built on."

"The renaissance that has been happening in relations between the Serbs and the Hungarians exactly over the past 10 years is the best proof that the autonomist-etatist model of organization of Vojvodina not only did not contribute to interethnic harmony, but rather its dismissal was a necessary requisite for the advancement of understanding, harmony and cooperation between national communities in the province," says the declaration, which begins with "the historical presence of the Serbian people in the territory of Pannonia."