Official: No separatism in Vojvodina

3 October 2010 | 16:19 | Source: Beta

NOVI SAD -- Prime Minister of Vojvodina Bojan Pajtić believes the speculations about the "separatism" in Vojvodina are "utter nonsense." Bojan Pajtić "To mention the secession of Vojvodina would be no different than to claim there is an increasing separatism in Šumadija, which is utter nonsense," Pajtić said. According to him, such a scenario is not realistic, nor does any political group in the province uphold such a concept. However, the issue is still being used to “produce fear” in other parts of Serbia. "Intentionally or unintentionally, citizens are not sufficiently explained that whenever there is a tendency of a region to secede from the mother country, whether in Scotland, the Basque region or South Ossetia, these request are ethnically motivated," Pajtić said. He said that some politicians manipulated the emotions of citizens and “abuse the fact the people are sensitive to the disintegration of the state, since they have witnessed a lot in the past two decades - the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia, Montenegrin departure, the unilateral secession of Kosovo.” Pajtić expressed satisfaction with the process of transferring authority from the state to the province and said that to date Vojvodina acquired over two thirds of its competencies, as stipulated by the new Statute of the Province and the transfer of authority. He assessed that failure to restitute the property to Vojvodina and local governments was a serious one, adding that the law on public property would enter the agenda of the autumn session of the National Assembly. Pajtić said that Vojvodina would open its representation office in Brussels in 2012, or alternatively when Serbia got the status of EU candidate.