BACKGROUND - on 16 September 2004 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on harassment of minorities in Vojvodina where it, amongst others, "expressed deep concern at the repeated breaches of human rights in the province" and asked the delegation for relations with the countries of South East Europe to be authorised to conduct a fact-finding mission in that province; - the fact-finding mission took place from 28 to 31 January 2005 and the report was made available on 2 March 2005 (original in FR) and 31 March 2005 (translations); its main results were: 1. Vojvodina should remain a model region, because its multiculturalism goes hand in hand with a fairly harmonious cohabitation between the different nationalities living there. In order to preserve this, it is vital to combat attacks of any kind on the roots of each and every one of the region's traditional cultures. 2. It is essential that the province's multi-ethnic character be preserved, particularly in view of any future EU accession of Serbia and Montenegro, since the place of Voïvodina would then be a very special one, both geo-strategically and sociologically. For that reason, all existing forms of rapprochement need to actively supported (Interreg III/a, cooperation with European border regions). 3. The inter-ethnic incidents which plagued Voïvodina over a period of thirteen months appear to be the result of a conjunction of unfavourable factors, which was itself the outcome both of older situations and of more recent, and even highly specific circumstances: changes to the province's demographic make-up, influx of refugees in very difficult economic circumstances, the March 2004 Kosovo crisis, and tense election campaigns. 4. The incidents are reprehensible and inexcusable, but they should not be called 'atrocities' since this is an inappropriate term to apply to what actually happened. Furthermore, the incidents should not be seen as the outcome of some plan deliberately organised by certain groups seeking to destabilise the province; they were frequently perpetrated by frustrated young people, exasperated by their difficult living conditions. It has to be acknowledged that negligence on the part of the police and the courts may be indirectly encouraging this behaviour. 5. This kind of situation was able to go on repeating itself for over a year, due to the authorities' initial inertia, the inefficiency of the security forces and of the courts, as a result of their probable lack of local rootedness in the region when faced with occurrences of this kind, and also the exploitation of the situation for election purposes by certain political groups and finally, the sometimes harmful role played by certain of the media. 1 6. Currently, the incidents have become more sporadic, thanks to the fact the election periods are past, to goodwill on the part of the authorities, and to pressure from the international community. 7. However, effective measures need to be taken so as to prevent a recurrence of inter-ethnic incidents, particularly: a) Implementation of the planned decentralisation programme for Voïvodina; b) The visible and efficient application of the various instruments established to protect minorities (National Minorities Council, incident assessment committees, etc.); c) Stepping up efforts seeking to prevent discrimination with regard to access to education and employment (in the police force and in the magistracy in particular); d) Reform of the police, the security forces and the judiciary so as to allow them to deal more effectively with any fresh incidents of an inter-ethnic nature; e) Preserving multilingualism at all levels of education, reforming the teaching of history, and introducing the teaching of civil values, with particular stress on tolerance; f) Guaranteeing the independence of the media, and training for those working in the media, laying particular stress on the concept of inter-ethnic relations and living together. 8. It is now incumbent on the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South-east Europe, having had direct contact with representatives of all those involved, to monitor closely the way in which the situation in Voïvodina develops in the future. - on 12 April 2005, the Commission published the so-called Faisibility Study with a positive assessment on the possibility to open negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro for the conclusion of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement; on minorities, the Commission took the view that "There has been steady progress in the protection of minority rights in Serbia and Montenegro, although recently overshadowed by ethnically motivated incidents against minorities in Vojvodina. (...) ....despite improvements, ethnically motivated incidents still occur, reflecting the legacy of the past decade and systemic issues in the implementation of existing standards. In 2003-2004, the situation significantly deteriorated in Vojvodina, with an increasing number of violent incidents, particularly against notably ethnic Hungarians. The reaction of authorities was belated and insufficient. Although important steps have been taken to address the issue, including the October 2004 establishment of a high profile Council for National Minorities, chaired by the Serbian Prime Minister, further efforts need to be made." 2 - on 6 June 2005, at the opening of the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, two members took the floor (Mr. Becsey, EPP, Hungary, and Mr. Tabajdi, PSE, Hungary), to denounce a recrudescence of harassing behaviours against the Hungarian minority of Vojvodina and its political representatives: in particular, two events are reported in the documentation which was made available: - some kind of suspected judicial/politically motivated persecution against Mr Jozsef KASZA, former Major of Subotica and president of the VMSZ, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, for facts (according to allegations, corruption and administrative misuses) taking place around ten years ago, and - discriminatory judiciary treatment (allegedly, too severe and draconian) of a group of 5 young Hungarians ( the so-called Temerin group), now in jail for having severely beaten a 38 years old man, Mr. Zoran Petrovic, belonging to the Serb community , who then suffered serious injuries. - on 21 June last, during an exchange of views held in the committee of foreign affairs of the EP with Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, two more MEPs denounced again the harassment and discriminations against the Hungarian minority in Vojvodina (Mrs. Gal, EPP, Hungary, and, again, Mr. Tabajdi, PSE, Hungary). - on 29 June 2005, the SEE delegation held a meeting in the course of which, after interventions by the most interested MEPs (Becsey, Tabajdi, Posselt, Gal- the minutes have been circulated in due course), there was an exchange of views with the Ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro to the EU Mr. Jevremovic, and the Commission's Desk-officer Mr. Cammarata. Substantially, there was an agreement on the necessity to accelerate reforms in the fields of the police, justice, education, etc..., although it was clearly stressed that this would take time and money, and that reinforced EU assistance would be welcome. - on 14 July last, according to the decisions taken at the abovementioned meeting, the Chairperson of the SEE delegation, Mrs. Pack, wrote letters to the Prime Minister of Serbia and President of the National Council for Minorities Vojislav Kostunica, and to the Ministers of Education, Home Affairs and Justice of the Republic of Serbia. Three of them (all but the Minister of Education) answered providing description of the reforms needed or, respectively, the reforms already in progress or, especially in the case of the Minister of Justice, indicating the elements impeding to accede to the EP requests. All this correspondance has been put at the disposal of Members. - on 30 August 2005, very early in the morning, a hand grenade, according to the press reports, exploded outside the house (in Subotica) of Mr. Jozsef Kasza, President of the Alliance of Hungarians of Vojvodina, who was already undergoing prosecution for alleged mismanagement at the time he was Mayor of the town, in the early Nineties. No casualties were reported and a police investigation was initiated immediately. President of Serbia Tadic, Prime Minister of Serbia Kostunica and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Montenegro Draskovic condemned the attack. 3 This accident has caused interventions in the EP: Mr. Becsey held a one-minute speech on this at the opening of the part session of 5 September last and Mr. Tabajdi wrote, the same day of the grenade explosion, to the President of the EP; - on 14 September last, the delegation for relations with the countries of South East Europe held an extraordinary meeting. First, the answers received to the letters addressed to the Serbian authorities were analysed: most of members commented that they were superficial and not very informative, in particular on education and on minority representation in the police. Secondly, the situation in the field was passed in review and it was found that no significant progress could be recorded, that most of the authors of harassment acts were not being put on trial and that, on the contrary, those who were in prison, and belonged to ethnic minorities, were being treated with unprecedented severity 1. Some members also commented on recent acts of dissacration of minority cemeteries and on the case of imprisoned minority lawyer Gabriella