At its 13th sitting, held on 23 November 2018, the members of the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region and Chairman Miodrag Linta deliberated on the activities of the Conference of Serbian National Organizations in the Region. The sitting was attended by representatives of Serbs living in Montenegro, Croatia, Republic of Srpska, Macedonia, Romani, Slovenia and Albania.
Committee Chairman Miodrag Linta launched the sitting by saying that almost two million Serbs live in the eight countries in the region where they encounter different problems depending on the state. Serbs in Romania and Hungary have a satisfactory status, while the status of those living in Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is dire, over a million Serbs having been exiled from these territories, said the Committee Chairman. The position of Serbs in Montenegro is also difficult as the current regime in Podgorica is employing a discriminatory policy to reduce the proportion of Serbs in the coming census and cross the threshold of 50% of the population declaring as Montenegrin. The position of Serbs in Albania is also exceptionally hard. Serbs in Macedonia encounter some information-related problems, while Serbs in Slovenia do not have the status of national minority.
Momcilo Vuksanovic, Chairman of the Serb National Council of Montenegro, Momcilo Krajisnik, President of the association “Creators of the Republic of Srpska”, Branislav Rajic, Chairman of the National Council of Serbs in Slovenia, Sasa Milosevic, Deputy Chairman of the Serb National Council in Croatia, Pavle Jakoja Brajovic, head of the association of the Serbian minority in Albania, Ivan Stoilkovic, Macedonian MP, and Ognjan Krstic, President of the Union of Serbs in Romania, spoke about the general and specific problems of Serbs living in the countries in the region.
The general problems concern the free use of the Serbian language and Cyrillic script, need to secure textbooks written in Serbian, gaining the status of national minority in some of the states and the employment of Serbs in government institutions.
Momcilo Vuksanovic spoke about the initiative to collect signatures to demand the retraction of the Montenegrin recognition of the fake state of Kosovo, while Momcilo Krajisnik about the dire need to preserve the Cyrillic script and liberalize the flow of goods across the borders of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska. Branislav Rajic said that it is imperative to establish a national council in Slovenia so that the state may recognize Serbs as a national minority, while Sasa Milosevic spoke about fostering closer ties between Serbia and Croatia as this would improve the position of Serbs in Croatia. Ognjan Krstic said that, though Serbs in Romania have the status of national minority, the preservation of the script remains a problem.
Jovan Vlaovic, representative of the Joint Council of Municipalities in Vukovar, Srdjan Milakovic, Deputy Mayor of Vukovar from the ranks of the Serb national minority, Gordana Jovic Stojkovska president of the Serb community in Macedonia, Mile Sapic of the Coalition of Refugee Associations and Budimir Milojko of the Association of Refugee and Other Serb Associations from Croatia also spoke at the meeting.
Following a long and comprehensive discussion, Linta said that Serbia lacks a government body to tackle the issues of Serbs in the region, if not at the ministerial level than at least an office, one that would deal with the problems and issues of Serbs in the region because they are very different than those of Serbs in the diaspora.
Linta said that the Committee will compile conclusions per the specific and general demands voiced here, to be adopted at the next sitting to serve as guidelines for future efforts to resolve the problems of Serbs living in the region.
The Committee Chairman then proceeded to brief the Committee members on the activities completed between two Committee sittings and the topics reviewed therein.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Miodrag Linta and attended by the following Committee members: Mirjana Dragas, Marjana Maras, Doc. Dr Ivan Bauer, MA Ivan Kostic, Aleksandar Markovic, Aleksandar Cotric, Olivera Ognjanovic, Blaza Knezevic, Dragan Veljkovic and Prim. Dr Vlado Babic.
