"Individual incidents did take place in Vojvodina, but they cannot justify the request that has been made by Budapest," Kostunica said in a statement, adding that in talks with representatives of ethnic communities in the northern Serbian province yesterday it was jointly assessed that relations between ethnic communities in Vojvodina were traditionally good and harmonious.
Kostunica said it was also assessed that breaches of the Hungarian minority's rights had occurred, but that other minorities, as well as the majority Serbian population, had also been victims of nationalist excesses.
Kostunica went on to say the Serbian government was doing and would continue to do everything to prevent such incidents by adopting measures, stepping up police efficiency, and passing harsher penalties for perpetrators.
Kostunica's reaction was prompted by Hungarian Foreign Minister Laslo Kovacsz' statement after a government session yesterday that a document on incidents in Vojvodina in the last six months was sent to representatives of all European Union countries.
Kostunica said that initiatives which were not based on facts could only harm the population of Vojvodina and undermine the good relations between Serbia and Montenegro and Hungary.
In the last 12 months, Vojvodina recorded a frequent rate of excesses against minorities. Among the first which attracted media attention was an incident in the majority Croat village of Tavankut near Subotica. Due to numerous fights and acts of vandalism, representatives of Croatia's authorities have protested a number of times, as have the political representatives of the Hungarian minority in Vojvodina.