Loránt Vincze: Vojvodina should be part of the European network of minority regions

FUEN President Loránt Vincze participated at a legal and linguistic conference called Mother tongue and jurisprudence, organized by the Hungarian National Council of Vojvodina/Vajdaság in Szabadka/Subotica, Serbia. The main topic of the conference held on Friday and Saturday was the official use of minority languages. President Loránt Vincze talked about the importance of protecting one’s mother tongue and the need for creating an appropriate professional vocabulary. Mr Vincze also presented the history and work of FUEN and compared European minority protection in different European regions.

According to Loránt Vincze, FUEN created the common ground for minority protection on a European level. This is particularly true regarding the Hungarian minorities living in the Carpathian basin, because all these communities are members in the FUEN, so they can express their cause in a European framework together with other minority groups. 

Following the presentation of the Minority SafePack European citizen’s initiative Mr Vincze said: "Besides our fight for minority rights and protection it is also in our interest to strengthen the role of the regions and to promote regional cooperation. Our goal is to create a forum of minority-friendly regions." According to the FUEN President the Vojvodina region should also be part of this forum due to its cultural and linguistic diversity, which is represented by the national communities living and working together quite well, despite all the difficulties.

This idea was also the guiding spirit of discussions which took place between President Vincze and Jenő Hajnal, the president of the Hungarian National Council of Vojvodina, Rudolf Ceglédi, the mayor of Zenta, and vice president of the Vojvodina Hungarian Union (VMSZ) and Andor Deli, Member of the European Parliament.

Loránt Vincze also visited the German House in Szabadka/Subotica where he met president Rudolf Weiss and vice president Kristian Letner, representing the German People’s Union/Deutscher Volksverband. The umbrella organisation of the Danube Swabians expressed its openness towards all German organisations and its dedication towards the cooperation between the national communities of Vojvodina.

The German People’s Union/Deutscher Volksverband is an associate member of the FUEN and also part of its German working group (AGDM), while the Vojvodina Hungarian Union is a supporting member of FUEN.