Ladies and Gentlemen,

The common interest of the Hungarians living in the Carpathian basin is to see Hungary in the European Union as soon as possible, and to accomplish the autonomy of the Hungarian minorities, thus giving constitutional frame to the preservation of their identity.

The solution of the situation of the Hungarians of Vojvodina has also become a reality in the present stage of the Yugoslav peace process. The Democratic Community of the Hungarians of Vojvodina fights an independent political battle for the autonomy, but it would also be important that the political elite of Hungary, above all the government and the parliamentary parties, support and represent the aspiration for the autonomy of the Hungarians of Vojvodina. The main points of these aspirations are the following:

1. The Hungarians of Vojvodina should elect their own leaders, thus acquiring political subjectivity (all Hungarian citizens would participate by equal rights, no matter whether they live on the territories where they make a majority of the population, or live in diaspora or on small "Hungarian islands").

2. Institutions necessary for the preservation of the national identity of Hungarians, should be managed by representative bodies elected by Hungarians according the principles of multi-party system.

3. The Hungarian public institutions should receive state subsidy as the appropriate Serbian institutions do.

4. The stability of the autonomy, established by bilateral agreement and adapted to the legal system, should be guaranteed by appropriate international, that is, inter-state acts.

The politically legitimate autonomy concept of the Democratic Community of the Hungarians of Vojvodina is based on these principles.

The Democratic Community of the Hungarians of Vojvodina thinks that the territorial autonomy itself, including only 45% of the Hungarians of Vojvodina, is not enough for the preservation of the self-identity of the Hungarians of Vojvodina. Partly because it does not take into account the Hungarians living in diaspora and the others living on “Hungarian islands". On the other hand, according to the census in 1991, the proportion of the Hungarian population is only 70% in the communities included in the territorial autonomy. By the colonization of the Serbian refugees, three of the seven municipalities with Hungarian majority might lose this status.

In Vojvodina, the Democratic Community of the Hungarians of Vojvodina is the only one which has a politically legitimate autonomy concept, according to the criteria of the European democracy and introduced to the leaders of the peace process, and which accomplishment may begin. The model of the DCHV is more than just a territorial autonomy. It gives advantage to the personal autonomy, which:

- will also include the Hungarians living in diaspora and on "Hungarian islands"

- will spread over the education, culture and information, that is, over those activities which immediately influence the self-identity of the Hungarians of Vojvodina;

- will estimate such an elective mechanism which would enforce the principles of a multi-party system within the Hungarians of Vojvodina, namely, the problems of the Hungarians of Vojvodina will be solved by such politicians who will have political responsibility towards them and not towards the Serbian government.

The accomplishment of the personal autonomy is indispensable, but it does not mean that the communities where the Hungarian population is in majority, do not need territorial autonomy.

The territorial autonomy model of the Democratic Community of the Hungarians of Vojvodina is the following:

- it gives possibility for joining the communities of special status, those with the Hungarian majority, and establishing Hungarian Autonomous District;

- in the communities and settlements where the Hungarians are not in the majority, it will guarantee the right for the use of the language, and proportional participation in administration and jurisdiction;

- it gives a solution for joint decision making of the Hungarians and the Serbs in self-government administration, as well as in the bodies of the Hungarian Autonomous District.

The autonomy concept of the Democratic Community of the Hungarians of Vojvodina may be accomplished by democratic means and will not trespass the interests of the Serbian state.