The Committee on Inter-Ethnic Relations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia held its twelfth session on 26 October 2005; the session had been convened by the Committee’s vice-chairman, Zivorad Smiljanic.
The deputies exchanged views on the upcoming elections for the Committee’s chairman; however, as there was no decision-making quorum, the chairman was not elected.
Committee members discussed the European Parliament’s Resolution on the preservation of multi-ethnicity in Vojvodina, and the report on the discussions on Vojvodina at the European Parliament on 13 October 2005. The Committee also discussed a report on ethnically motivated incidents involving damage to the Hungarian ethnic minority in 2003 and measures taken in respect thereof by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia.
The secretary of the Republic Council for Ethnic Minorities, Petar Ladjevic, informed the deputies of the course of the discussion at the European Parliament and the speeches made by representatives of ethnic minorities and Serbia-Montenegro officials.
As the Committee did not have a decision-making quorum, no conclusions were adopted regarding the European Parliament’s Resolution on the preservation of multi-ethnicity in Vojvodina. The deputies underlined that the issue of the status of ethnic minorities in multi-ethnic regions was a sensitive one, and expressed their disagreement with the text of the Resolution.