Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Mrkic assessed today that Serbia was the very top of the list in terms of respect, protection and institutional assistance to national minorities and that it had never conducted the policy of minority assimilation.
Mrkic made this statement after Romanian President Traian Basescu called yesterday evening on all neighbouring countries to treat Romanians living in their respective countries in the same way as Romania treated its minorities, as carried by Agerpres.
According to some Romanian media, Basescu voiced his criticism of Serbia and other countries in the region over the position of Vlachs, but he also reprimanded Vlach associations over their poor organization.
Minister Mrkic expressed his conviction that President Basescu's statement was not ill intentional towards Serbia, since – he said – Basescu was the leader of an "exceptionally friendly people".
"We have not received the full text of President Basescu's remarks you are referring to; therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on what he said. I personally do not believe that President Basescu meant to say anything bad about us, because his is the leader of a nation which is exceptionally friendly to Serbia", said Serbian Foreign Minister.
According to Mrkic, Serbia was an exception compared to not only many countries worldwide but also some in our region, "because it never conducted the policy of assimilation of minorities, either in principle or in practice, not even in the socialist era".
According to the assessments made by the Council of Europe and the EU, Serbia is at the very top of the list when it comes to respect, protection and institutional assistance to national minorities. Therefore, I think that Serbia can only serve as a role model regarding national minority issues and its democracy in general, as it has been forged for two centuries now, Mrkic said.
Speaking at the opening of Summer University at Izvoru Muresului, Harghita County, Transylvania, in the presence of leaders of the organizations of Romanians living in neighbouring countries and in the Balkans, Basescu called on Romanians outside the country to show solidarity, because "splitting of communities into different feuding associations aggravates the process of financing their programmes".
Basescu underlined that many Vlachs did not declare themselves as Romanians, "which is the reason why schools in Romanian cannot be created", adding that "the policy aimed at assimilating Romanians", tolerated, as he said, during the communist regime "has produced results".
Leaders of the organizations of Romanians living in neighbouring countries and in the Balkans warned that, unless Romania helped them, the assimilation process would be accelerated and the Romanian communities would cease to exist in the countries where they now lived.