Written declaration No. 444 | Doc. 12242 | 18 May 2010

The situation of the Romanian minority in Serbia

Signatories: Mr Titus CORLĂŢEAN, Romania, SOC ; Mr John AUSTIN, United Kingdom ; Mr Denis BADRÉ, France, ALDE ; Mr Cristian DAVID, Romania, ALDE ; Mr György FRUNDA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Giorgi GABASHVILI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Ms Ana GUŢU, Republic of Moldova, ALDE ; Mr Albrecht KONEČNÝ, Austria, SOC ; Mr Göran LINDBLAD, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Dariusz LIPIŃSKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Silver MEIKAR, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Akaki MINASHVILI, Georgia, ALDE ; Mr Adrian NĂSTASE, Romania, SOC ; Mr Cezar Florin PREDA, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Lluís Maria de PUIG i OLIVE, Spain, SOC ; Mr Kimmo SASI, Finland, EPP/CD ; Lord John E. TOMLINSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Mihai TUDOSE, Romania, SOC ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

In the last few months, there is a lot of news about the pressure from the Serbian authorities against the Romanian community living in this country.

The main problem remains the artificial distinction made between the group recognised as ”Romanians” and the other called “Vlachs”, although they both speak Romanian.

This led to an unacceptable situation: the so-called Vlachs are not given the right to education in their mother tongue despite the plea made by the Parliamentary Assembly through its Resolution 1632 (2008) and its Recommendation 1845 (2008) on the situation of national minorities in Vojvodina and of the Romanian ethnic minority in Serbia.

In the current process of designating the representatives of the national minority councils in Serbia, not only is this artificial distinction being pushed for by the Serbian authorities, but also political pressure is exerted in order to influence the final outcome of the elections. The recent intimidation that some 50 signatories of the list of the Vlachs community in Serbia were going through is clear proof of this inadmissible phenomenon.

In these circumstances, we see a great need for the Assembly to reiterate its request to the Serbian authorities to take the necessary and awaited measures to comply with European standards, including the respect of the Romanian minority’s rights.