The decentralisation of Serbia and autonomy for Vojvodina are not matters of secession, but are in the interests of all citizens of Serbia, the head of the European Parliament Delegation for Southeast Europe, Doris Pack, was quoted by Beta news agency as saying in the Vojvodina Assembly in the provincial capital Novi Sad.
She was speaking at the opening of a two-day international conference, entitled "The Role of Border Regions in the Process of European Integration".
Pack said that to some extent she supported the demand by the Serbian government for the decentralisation of the southern UN-administered province of Kosovo because it would improve the life of the Serb community there. She, however, noted that the Serbian government could not negate the need for the decentralisation of Serbia proper and for granting Vojvodina autonomy.
Addressing the conference, the head of the Croatian County of Istria and vice-chairman of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), Ivan Jakovcic, said that without democratisation of the Balkans Europe cannot be happy. "There must not be any holes in Europe's tissue, because the Balkan countries cannot stay outside Europe," he said.
Jakovcic praised the Vojvodina authorities for their commitment to the preservation of the province's multiethnicity, stressing that European institutions should reward Vojvodina for such an effort.
The chairman of the Vojvodina Assembly, Bojan Kostres, criticised the Serbian authorities for not having "a clear vision of Serbia's future", saying that Vojvodina could help Serbia on the path to the European Union.
Kostres said that regionalism did not mean separatism, but that it is a normal course in a country's development.