According to the provincial government of Vojvodina, people living in the province make up 27% of the overall population of Serbia (with the exception of Kosovo), yet it produces the 40% of the country's GDP. Before Milosevic's era Vojvodina enjoyed a great degree of autonomy, but the Serbian dictator managed to eliminate it. Now the province has just approved a new Statute allowing the devolution of some of the powers Milosevic withdrew. Vojvodina is a multiethnic province within Serbia, located in the Danube watershed, a strategic area bordering Hungary, Croatia and Romania.

Last October 15th, 89 out of 120 deputies of the Assembly of Vojvodina voted in favor of a new provincial statute which grants legislative powers and allows the territory to approve its own budget. The principal supporters of the reform were the coalition of Serbian parties led by Boris Tadić's Democratic Party and the two main Hungarian parties from Vojvodina, namely the Hungarian Coalition and the League of Social Democrats. By contrast, right-wing Serbian nationalists stood vehemently against it arguing that the new statute would open the door to a future secession.

After two months the Statute has not yet been ratified by the Serbian Parliament and therefore has not come into force. Last week, the spokesman for the Assembly of Vojvodina, Šandor Egereši, stated his concern that the Statute was not sanctioned before the Serbian budget for 2009. However, EM Portal online newspaper reports that Egereši is confident there are no "political motivations" behind the impasse.

Regardless of the Parliament's decision, Vojvodina's party officials believe that the devolution process won't be concluded with the new statute. According to B92, Nenad Čanak, president of the League of Social Democrats, has called for a constitutional reform and for Serbia to become a federal republic. Čanak proposed that Serbia be divided into five entities with full powers, one of which would be Vojvodina and another Sandžak, a region bordering Montenegro with Bosniak majority.

The debate on the territorial autonomy for Hungarians

Even though Serbs amount to 65% of the total population, Vojvodina is one of the European territories with a highest degree of linguistic diversity. Six languages enjoy official status (Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, Rusyn, Croatian and Romanian), and other languages such as Romani, Macedonian and German are also spoken. The Hungarians make up the largest minority, with 14% of the overall population, but the percentage has been decreasing in the last decades -25% in 1953, 19% in 1981. That is one of the reasons why some of their political leaders have called for the establishment of an autonomous region where Hungarians make a majority. Such territory would consist of 9 municipalities located in the north of Vojvodina, with Szabadka (Subotica in Serbian) as its capital city.

The political group supporting the establishment of the autonomy is the Hungarian Coalition, made up of three Hungarian parties from Vojvodina. It has 9 out of 120 seats in the Regional Assembly. The demand, though, has not been included in the new statute. Instead, it incorporates the possibility to establish National councils so that minorities can have a say in education and cultural policies. Recently, Kinga Göncz, Hungarian Minister of foreign affairs, poured cold water on the proposal made by the Hungarian Coalition by declaring to Dnevnik daily that any form of territorial autonomy for the Hungarians of Vojvodina is not realistic.

Further information:

• The text of the Statute, in the Vojvodina Assembly website
• Osservatorio Balcani: Vojvodina: la nuova carta
• Serbianna: Hungarians don't need autonomy in Serbia, FM