Bulgaria Started Public Consultations on Amendments Its First EU to the Law on National Councils Presidency of National Minorities Held 42 Minorityd ecNember 2e017 –w januarys 2018 Radko Vlajkov: Bulgaria Will Show that There Are No Large or Small EU Members Complex Mosaic of The Hungarian Desk at the Serbia Organized for RTV celebrated the 50th the Second Time anniversary HIGHLIGHTS EDITORIAL 42 Bulgaria Started Its First EU Pre sidency "Public" Consu ltation s behind On January 1, Bulgaria to ok, for the first C l osed Doors time, the rota ting six-month Presidenc y New Yea r, new b eginning s, new chance s for a c hange .. How ma ny tim es of the EU Co uncil. D u ring the Presi - have w e heard th is or similar phr as e and how m any times ha v e we just dency, Bu lgaria wi ll host nea rly 300 shak en our heads, beca use ou r desire for change w as to a g reat exten t diffe - events, twenty of which will be EU mee - rent fr om t he wishes o f tho se who decide on them, re gard less of w heth er tings a t the highest lev el. we belong to a m inority o r a majo rity? A pe ssimistic start? Maybe. And maybe just realism. This year , m embers of n atio nal min orities expe ct regu lar elec t ions fo r mem - bers of national councils of n ation al mino rities. It is d ifficult to forecast in what atmosphere the pre-election campaign is going to take place, and whether d epolitizatio n of nationa l councils will fi nally be achiev ed, wh ich is one of the go als of am endm e nts t o the Law on Nat ional Council s of Nat ional Minorit ies. Th e Ministr y of Pub lic A dm inistratio n and Loca l S elf-Go vernment Public Consultations organized "pu b lic con su ltat ion s" on t hese amendmen ts in sev eral tow ns of H eld Ser bia with the s u pport of the O SCE Miss io n in Serbia. It is hig hly commen - dable that the effort was made to discuss the working version of the text at In December, the Ministry of Public such an early stage of preparing amendments to the law. However, public Administ ration a nd Local Self-Govern - I cons ultatio ns wer e n ot entirely pub lic. At leas t not w hen it com es to the first ment, with the support of the OSCE round of consultations, which was held in Novi Sad. The right to participate Mission to Serbia, carried out public in the consultations wa s giv en to the re prese ntatives of n ational counc ils, consultat ion s on the w orking text of member s of the work in g group for drafting a mendments to th e zbogLaw, w togahile the Draft Law on Ame ndmen ts to the mšedi a re presentativ es we re kindly asked to leave the meeting, or, to b e Law on National Councils of National more p recis e, they wer e allowed to attend the event o nly for th e first 3 mi - Minorit ies. Cons ultatio ns were held in Novi Sad, Novi Paz ar, Bujanov ac, Pe - nutes, so that they he ard the welco me spee ch of the ho s t, in this case, the trovac na Mlavi, Subotica and Bel - Provincial Sec retary for Educ ation , R e štogula uzdišemotions, Admi nzais t„starletama“ration and Nati okojenal grade. Msin orities - N ational Commu nities. W hen asked why it was not possible to attend the event, journalists received a short answer – this is not the event for journalists. They could not ask for any further explanation, because the doo r was alre ady shut in their face. In su ch case s it is ne ce ssar y to ask th e q uestion why suc h consultation s are “Complex Mosaic organized if the right of participation is not given to the ones who will inform the p ubli c about them . Of co urs e, repre sentatives o f the me dia could su bmit of Serbia” Organized for the ir remarks and s ugge stions on t he working text o f am e nd ments to the t he Second Time Law, but w e all know that there is a world of difference between writing and mailing comments and suggestion and having a chance to ask the questions The Offic e for Hu man and M inority and pres en ting one’s comme nts and concer ns in per son, in a p ublic co nsul - Ri ghts organiz ed the "Complex M osaic tation. Public dialogue, public consultation, transparency ... In recent years, of Serbia" F estival for the seco nd t ime we have inc lude d these t erms in ou r everyday voca bulary , but the questi on at the Belgrade Fair, marking the Hu - is how much we understand the meaning of the same. man Rights D ay. Natio nal minorities presented their cultural heritage, folk costumes, old crafts, gastronomic spe - cialties, handmade objects and books 30 d iffer ent national m inorities live in Serbia in minority languages at their stands. The Go lden Ju bilee of the Hung ari an Desk at the T elev is ion o f Vojvodina On January 8th, Hungarian Desk at the Television of Vojvodina celebrated the golden jubilee, the 50th anniversary of the begi nning of it s work. On the occa - sion of the anniversary, a rich program was organ ized in the Studio M of the Ra - sle er for all dio Novi Sad. and ONE new www.minoritynews.rs Minority News Portal News Bulgaria Started Its First EU Presidency Source: www.euroactiv.rs Photo: Sofia Globe decade after joining the EU, The goal of the Bulgarian presidency is to they are in the zone or not. on January 1, Bulgaria took, for have a greater connection with the Western the first time, the rotating six- Balkan countries in the areas of transport, In the area of security and migration pol - month EU Council Presidency, energy, education... icy, the Bulgarian Presidency will work on with the enlargement of the Union as one long-term and fair solutions in the domain oAf the priorities and the ambition of achiev - Bulgaria is already making efforts to con - of asylum policy, effective policies for the ing a clear action plan for each candidate nect with the region in a better way, and return of migrants and readmission, country, without unrealistic expectations, a good example is to foster a European strengthening border control, and preven - but with concrete steps. The goal of Bul - digitalization policy among the Western tion. garia as the EU presiding country is to be Balkan countries through a gradual reduc - an intermediary, a political leader, and a tion in the price of roaming and increasing The priority of the Bulgarian EU Presi - coordinator, in order to respond to the real the opportunities for broadband. dency will also be a single digital market, needs of European citizens and turn chal - access to innovations, establishing a link lenges into opportunities, according to the The work by Bulgarian EU Commissioner between education and labor market Bulgarian Presidency website. for Digital Society, Maria Gabriel, has been needs, and the young people will be in done with this objective in mind. At the the focus of all actions. "It is time to work on a stronger, safer and EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia in more solid EU. Citizens of Bulgaria and the May 2018, Gabriel will announce a plan During the Presidency, Bulgaria will host EU expect us to find concrete solutions for to abolish roaming between the EU and nearly 300 events, 20 of which will be EU specific issues. The Bulgarian Presidency the countries of the Western Balkans. meetings at the highest level. will act in a transparent manner, it will be open to all European partners and, above In addition to the EU enlargement, Bul - The logo of the Bulgarian Presidency of all, to all European citizens", the Bulgarian garia's priorities will be the future of Eu - the EU Council shows the symbols of Bul - Presidency of the EU said. rope and the young, security and stability, garian identity - Cyrillic, traditional em - as well as the digital economy. broidery and the national tricolor. The au - Regarding the enlargement of the EU, it is thor is a Bulgarian artist Todor Angelijev stated that the Western Balkans needs a The Bulgarian Presidency stated that eco - and the logo reflects the idea that Bulgaria clear European perspective that will con - nomic growth and social cohesion are cru - is an integral part of Europe and at the tribute to the long-term peace, security cial for the future of Europe, that it is im - same time unique among EU members. and prosperity in the region, as well as the portant for member economies to connection between the countries of the continue to grow and that all EU countries Bulgaria took over the EU Presidency from region and with EU members. participate in the debate on the reform Estonia, and will deliver it to Austria on of the euro zone irrespective of whether the last day of June.