The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians Remains in Coalition with the Progressives, but Won’t Join the Movement for the People and the State, Says Party Leader

Balint Pastor (Photo: vmsz.org.rs)

Balint Pastor, the leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), said on April 8 that the party would remain in coalition with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party for to continue serving the interests of the state, and above all the interests of the Hungarian community in Vojvodina.

Pastor told the Subotica Hungarian Radio that “unlike other parties”, the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians was unique, and that it wished to continue participating in the Government of Serbia through its state secretaries in the future. He added that the party would not join a new party, the Movement for the People and the State, because it wished to preserve its independence, even though its cooperation with the Progressives had been rather beneficial to the Hungarian community in Vojvodina and also the Serbs in Hungary.

He also said that now, Serbia “is closer to forming a new government than to scheduling a snap election,” adding he expected the Parliament to convene early next week to elect a new cabinet.

"It is crystal clear that there is a vocal minority that has been for five months now blocking classes in elementary and high schools, as well as at faculties, and has also been restricting the freedom of movement of the vast majority of citizens. Those groups have no vision, plan or idea, and we in the party think that neither is anarchy in the interest of the state, nor it is in the state’s interest to have institutions that do not function, and therefore we will remain in the coalition with the only relevant and legitimate political force, the Progressives,” Pastor explained.

Commenting on the absence of signs in Hungarian on the Novi Sad-Subotica railway section, Pastor said that in the Balkans, the rights of minorities were “unfortunately not taken for granted, regardless of what is written in the Constitution”. He noted that this was not the case only in Serbia, adding that a minority community could enjoy as many rights as its representatives could ensure for them with the authorities.