Jozsef Kasza, the leader of Vojvodina Hungarians was quoted by the Novi Sad press on Saturday as saying that local Hungarians are only interested in how the position of minorities will be defined in the new constitution.
In case of dissatisfaction with their status, ethnic minorities will join in calls of those politicians who announced a boycott of the referendum on the new constitution.
Representatives of the Croat community in Vojvodina also express dissatisfaction with the fact that ethnic minorities' officials are left out of the talks on a draft of the new constitution.
We shall lodge complaints to international institutions in case we are not satisfied with our position in the new constitution, given that there is a bilateral agreement between Serbia and Croatia granting certain rights to Serbs in Croatia and Croats in Serbija, said Josip Pekanovic, the head of the Croat National Council in Serbia. Pekanov referred to Croats' right to have their representatives in the Serbian Assembly.
The chairman of the Vojvodina parliament, and a senior official of the Social Democrat League, Bojan Kostres, has threatened to call for the boycott of the referendum on the constitution if the document fails to ensure Vojvodina's independence in the executive and legislative power as well as a high degree of autonomy in the judicial branhc of the authority and its own revenues and assets
In Serbia, the constitution promulgated in 1990, when the country was a part of the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is still in effect. Currently, parliamentary parties in the Serbian assembly are intensifying talks on reaching agreement on the new Serbian constitution so that it can be adopted until the end of this year. The intensified efforts are parallel with endeavors of the international community to define the status of Kosovo until the start of 2007. Kosovo, which is formally a part of Serbia, is now under the UN administration, and Kosovo Albanians, who account for 88 percent of this area, insist on its independence. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica believes that Kosovo Albanians' plans can be thwarted with the adoption of a new Serbian constitution stipulating that Kosovo belongs to Serbia.