Mr President,

Allow me to inform you that I have communicated the contents of our discussion on January 26 to the representatives attending an expanded meeting of the Presidium of the DCHV. In connection with the chance for the DCHV to put forward a nomination for one of the posts of Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia and fill a post in the government of the Republic of Serbia, the following position was adopted at the meeting:

1. In the present political situation, marked by a constant, strong, warlike propaganda against the Voivodina Hungarians, when a steady process of ethnic cleansing is taking place in all areas of power and in state and socially owned companies, and moreover when the government of the Republic of Serbia is pursuing a plan that in essence entails altering the ethnic composition of communities with a Hungarian majority by forcibly settling refugees in them, the conditions for political cooperation between the authorities and the DCHV are lacking. The Serbian President's position in this respect marks a qualitative change.

2. The DCHV is the organization representing the interests of the Voivodina Hungarians, whose fundamental strategic and political purpose is to gain threefold autonomy for the Voivodina Hungarians in the Republic of Serbia by democratic means. The realization of the threefold autonomy of the Voivodina Hungarians is a prior requirement for this European ethnic group to preserve its national identity. The Presidium takes the position that the political activity of the organization and its parliamentary representatives must also serve this strategic purpose. However, the Voivodina Hungarians who voted for the DCHV were convinced of the need not only to attain these strategic objectives but for a democratic transformation of the whole society. This means that the DCHV representatives concurrently support political efforts in this direction.

3. Bearing in mind the extremely difficult political situation, the Presidium of the DCHV considers that participation by all democratic forces in creating the political conditions for peace and the democratic transformation of society can accelerate the search for a way out of the present social and state crisis.

4. Starting out from the above principles, the Presidium of the DCHV considers that its representatives in the Parliament of the Republic can accept the posts mentioned above, naturally on condition that the posts are distributed jointly with the parties of the democratic opposition, particularly in a coalition led by DEPOS and the Democratic Party: It is essential in addition that these democratic parties publicly support the DCHV's demand for a dialogue with the organs of state power in the Republic of Serbia.

In the light of this, and on the basis of the consultation held, we nominate Ferenc Csubela for the post of Deputy Speaker of Parliament. We nominate nobody for membership of the government because none of those proposed would accept this function, so that further consultations are necessary.

5. The Presidium of the DCHV agrees to its representatives taking on political responsibilities of this nature, emphasizing, however, that they do not possess a political mandate to express an opinion on the questions of autonomy. The DCHV fully reserves to itself the right, both at home and abroad, of organizing and implementing the political decision-making and threefold autonomy on behalf of the Voivodina Hungarians.

The DCHV considers in addition that the open, unresolved questions concerning the Voivodina Hungarians can be settled only through democratic dialogue between the representatives of the DCHV and the state authorities of the Republic of Serbia.

6. The Presidium of the DCHV undertakes the political commitment that in the event of it considering that the activity of the Government or Parliament of the Republic of Serbia will lead to war, or that they have taken decisions that directly endanger the fundamental interests of the Voivodina Hungarians, it will call upon its representatives to resign.

The DCHV considers that rapid implementation of our agreement of last April on establishing a working group with the participation of the DCHV and the Government of Serbia on the commencement of negotiations on our plan for autonomy would greatly contribute to enhancing mutual confidence; also in the field of the selection of the representatives of Parliament and the Government of the Republic of Serbia. I am convinced that the above position adopted by the DCHV has again proved that it supports, alongside the democratic struggle for threefold autonomy, the efforts directed at finding a way out of the current state and social crisis.

Respectfully yours, Andras Agoston