"Ethnic unrest did not originate on the state level," said the Hungarian president, who is on a three-day visit to Serbia and Montenegro. He added that both countries had to work towards preventing inter-ethnic incidents, which he said were the consequence of the last decade's war and economic crisis as well as tensions caused by the upcoming local and provincial elections in Serbia.
"The recent inter-ethnic unrest may be exaggerated, as some think, but it certainly did happen. Anyone who tries to kill multi-ethnicity, which is Serbia and Montenegro's future, kills the country's European future," Marovic said after meeting Madl. He added that Vojvodina had to remain an example of multiethnicity and that every perpetrator of multiethnic violence had to be identified.
Last week Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs called violence against Vojvodina Hungarians "horrors", but toned down his criticism using the term "incidents" while speaking at a European Union ministerial meeting in Brussels on Monday.
The EU Council of Ministers on Monday stated that it would carefully monitor respect for minority rights in Vojvodina.
After meeting Marovic, Madl also met Serbian President Boris Tadic. He is also expected to meet Serbia and Montenegro's Parliament President Zoran Sami and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
Madl will travel from Belgrade to Podgorica, where on Wednesday he will hold talks with Montenegro's President and Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic and Milo Djukanovic respectively. On Thursday he will visit Vojvodina, where he will meet representatives of the local authorities and Hungarian minority in the province, where the number of inter-ethnic incidents between the majority Serb people and Hungarian and other minorities has increased in the last few months.