HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY AS A
BRIDGE BETWEEN SERBIA AND EU
12. December 2008.
The third and last panel discussion planned under the project "The
Role of the Hungarian Community in Serbia" took place on December 12, 2008, in Novi
Sad. The fact that participants in the panel were fewer than on previous occasions in no
way affected the debate that was substantive and to the point.
As underlined by some participants, Vojvodina Hungarians strongly
support Serbia's pro-European orientation since the country's integration into European
structures and its membership of the EU would be more favorable to their interests and
needs.
Professor Iren Gabric Molnar said Serbia's Europeanization was a
strategic interest of Vojvodina Hungarians as it would foster cross-border cooperation
with their mother country and other Hungarian communities within the EU, and change the
"peripheral" status of North Vojvodina through regional cooperation.
She illustrated Vojvodina Hungarians' interest in Serbia's
Europeanization by findings of a survey. For instance, asked about their biggest social
concerns, the great majority of adult interviewees from Vojvodina municipalities inhabited
by Hungarians replied, "Lagging behind the world and Europe." Lower on the list
of concerns were slow-paced reforms and Vojvodina's "lost" autonomy.
Cultural patterns, multiculturalism, communication with the mother
country and the parts of Europe inhabited by Hungarians and the longstanding cross-border
cooperation are the values that will growingly promote the role of the Hungarian community
in Serbia's Europeanization, said Professor Gabric Molnar. However, in order to profit
from such role inasmuch as possible the perception of cross-border cooperation should be
changed and centralism in both Serbia and Hungary overcome. For, Belgrade's and Budapest's
approval of even the smallest form of economic or other cooperation takes too long, she
explained. According to Professor Gabric Molnar, strategic plans for regional development
should put emphasis on strengthening of territorial and infrastructural integrity of
cross-border areas - and this could be accomplished through promotion of cross-border
initiatives, market integration benefits, stronger coherence of local communities and
scores of other measures, particularly those focusing research, technologies and
development of human resources.
Ferenz Zoldosh of the Adaptatio - D Company said that Vojvodina
Hungarians had already attained a certain level of EU knowledge thanks to the fact that
the neighboring Hungary was already in the EU membership. According to him, members of
Hungarian community had developed projects focusing not only their cultural and national
priorities but also some regional aspects aimed at better life of all the people in
certain regions. Thanks to the "Apacai" Foundation some 300 people from
Vojvodina have been trained in project development for the EU grants, which considerably
contributes to overall modernization of the Hungarian community in Vojvodina, he said. He
also stressed the Hungarian government's system of assistance to Hungarians beyond
Hungary, which have been successfully functioning in the past 18 years in terms of
cooperation between Vojvodina Hungarians and the Republic of Hungary.
He panel also addressed the future of the Hungarian community in
Vojvodina and Serbia. Historian Zoltan Mesaros reminded that the past 90 years have
witnessed exodus of Hungarians from Vojvodina. Therefore, today's Hungarian community is
demographically and intellectually diminished, economically impoverished and politically
impaired. Hungarians' aspirations towards some forms of autonomy produced no results due
to political climate. Assimilation is a natural process, said Mesaros. However, when
orchestrated by the government it leads to slow but certain disappearance of minority
communities. Solution to the problem, as he put it, is treatment of minority communities
as collectivities. "Dispersing collectivities hardly contributes to Serbia's speedier
Europeanization," he said.
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