The coordinator of the national councils in Vojvodina has said that the minorities have requested to participate in the creation of the new constitution in cooperation with the Vojvodina government, but that they were obviously excluded from the process.
"We think it is important, because you cannot bypass a fifth of the population just like that," Ana Tomanova Makanova told the Novi Sad-based Gradjanski List newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.
Croatian National Council chairman Josip Pekanovic said that the minorities should have been allowed to participate in the writing of the new constitution rather than be given the possibility of commenting on it once it has been completed.
"If we are not pleased with the position (of the Croatian minority) in the new constitution, we will complain to international institutions, because Serbia and Croatia signed an agreement guaranteeing certain rights to the Serb community in Croatia and to us in Serbia," Pekanovic said, citing the right to direct representation in state parliaments.
Minority representatives have said they expect to be granted the status of constituent ethnic groups in Vojvodina.