Ex-minister: Vojvodina should be republic
Source: Beta
NOVI SAD -- Faculty of Political Science Professor Dragan Veselinov says that Vojvodina should get a republic status and that a referendum on the issue should be called.
Dragan Veselinov (FoNet, file)
“The Vojvodina assembly can call the referendum tomorrow. The Vojvodina Executive Council should make its stand, to raise the level of requests for Vojvodina every time when the province’s statehood elements are attacked,” he stressed.
According to him, Vojvodina and Serbia are two countries.
“Every country should have its name and we can make up a common name for both of them. Sales tax and the customs are ours and we will agree on common expenses,” Veselinov, who was a minister in late Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić’s government, stated on Sunday.
He added that more than 50 percent of Serbs in Vojvodina and a vast majority of other ethnic communities would support the referendum.
“There is a wish in Vojvodina to take the next step but the elite are keeping quiet. Vojvodina needs a new party, a referendum party that knows its goal, and that’s the Republic of Vojvodina,” Veselinov stressed.
He assessed that the idea of autonomous Vojvodina within Serbia had been “exhausted” and added that the fact that it had been almost 100 years since Vojvodina had entered the union with Serbia was enough proof.
“They are now attacking this lousy and dead autonomy. They are attacking Vojvodina’s flag and coat of arms, too. They feel bad because the coat of arms contains three coats of arms, Srem, Banat and Bačka from 1848. It is absurd that Vojvodina does not have its anthem. Who is preventing the Vojvodina Executive Council from calling a competition for the anthem? Partizan fans have their anthem, companies have flags,” Veselinov stated.
He added that the Serbian government had a “maniacal fear of Vojvodina’s independence”.
“Serbia will never give Vojvodina autonomy with legislative and executive power,” he concluded.
Source:
B92 - News - Ex-minister: Vojvodina should be republic
