EU Foreign Ministers look into alleged Serb oppression of Hungarian minority

European Union Foreign Ministers are compiling a report on alleged Serb oppression of the Hungarian minority in the Vojvodina province of Serbia. Hungary alleges atrocities have been carried out against the ethnic Hungarian minority who have lived in the Vojvodina province for centuries. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has toured the region. He says it's in nobody's interest to have new ethnic tensions in the Balkans. But, he also appears to play down Hungary's complaints. So are the Hungarians of Vojvodina subjected to attacks and suppression?

Henriette Riegler is a Balkans expert at the Austrian Institute for International Relations:

"I think they are not exaggerating. I think this is true and there is a whole history of actions against non-Serb minorities in Vojvodina since the beginning of the 1990s."

So, not only the Hungarian minority?

"The Croatian minority was also kind of a target. This was not given much importance because at that time there was the war within Croatia itself so everybody was preoccupied with the Croatian territory and the war theatre. Somehow, Vojvodina escaped not only the international view or interest but also more or less the national interests of both Croatia and Hungary."

So how do the Hungarian and other minorities experience this discrimination and these attacks?

"It is something that has to do with this picture of 'greater Serbia'. Within former Yugoslavia then and Serbia Montenegro now, especially within Serbia, to be an ordinary citizen in many cases means that you have to be a Serb. So, you [the minority] are a third or second class citizen. On the other hand, I think it's a kind of political game, especially a game played by the ultra-nationalists."

We had Kostunica of Serbia going to Vojvodina this week and saying this is being exaggerated and this place is an example of multi-ethnic living. Surely, he has some credibility in this issue?

"I think this is about Serbian politics. Kostunica is also trying to play it down. On the other hand, I think he has another position on the minorities living in Vojvodina and on Vojvodina as a multi-ethnic province. Nevertheless, I think the complaints made by the minority are quite right."

Hungary has taken this up within the European Union Council of Ministers. What can Europe do to try and protect these minorities?

"I think what they can do and also what they will do is exert pressure, especially because Hungary is now a member of the European Union and has its political role. So, it's easier for them to do something for their minorities than it is for Croatia, which is not a member of the European Union. Serbia wants to be an EU member and now certain pressure can be exerted on them. I think you have to make it clear that Serbia has to be a democratic country and if ultra-nationalists are standing in the way political institutions have to do something with these nationalists."