The rapporteur on the topic, Ferenc Kalmar (Hungary, EPP) who visited Serbia in the course of the drafting of the report and resolution, thanked the Serbian Parliament on the well-organised visit.
In the plenary debates, the MPs stressed that the protection of national minorities needed to remain a high priority and urged for equality through differences both within and among the countries.
Aleksandra Djurovic, head of the Serbian delegation, and Elvira Kovacs, who was the one who suggested the topic be discussed, took active part in the debate. “The report and resolution are important for us because they acknowledge and recommend our good practice of respecting the collective human rights of national minorities to all of Europe. Serbia is committed to continue improving the status of national minorities on its territory in cooperation and accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Europe. At the same time, Serbia expects that the rights of members of Serbian minorities in other countries, including the right to use their language and script, will be fully respected in accordance with Council of Europe standards” – said Aleksandra Djurovic. She also pointed out the difficulties in realising the right to use Serbian language in Croatia warning that the possible referendum to increase the threshold at which the right to bilingualism applies to 50%, could prove disastrous.