ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

“National Councils of National Minorities: Forms of Action“

will be held as part of the 4th ANDEM summer school on September 19, 2023

Participants:
Karolina Lendák Kabók, Univerzitet Eötvös Loránd, Budapest / University in Novi Sad
Ljubica Đorđević, European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI), Flensburg
Milica Rodić, OSCE Mission to Serbia
Emil Lulić, National Council of the Hungarian National Minority in Serbia
Katalin Beretka, Faculty of Law and Business studies Dr Lazar Vrkatić, Novi Sad

Moderators: Jelena Ćeriman and Krisztina Rácz

Studies on the functioning of the national councils of national minorities in the Republic of Serbia during the last decade highlighted several related problems in different domains of their activity: the issue of politicization of the councils, the issue of the autonomy of their work, the issue of the lack of internal pluralism, the issue of gender representations and roles of women within the councils, the problem of (dis)interest of young people in the work of the national councils in their current form, and finally – the issue of preserving the uniqueness of the national identity of various national minorities living in Serbia.

The round table discussion will therefore be guided by the following questions:

• What are the advantages and difficulties in the work of councils?
• Who should protect and control the autonomy of their work from politicization and in what way?
• In what way could national councils of national minorities be more accessible to younger members of national communities? Can councils and should they deal with the issue of gender equality and do they integrate a gender perspective in their work?
• How are programs and strategies of national councils adopted, and is there room for a more open, inclusive approach to areas of action and in what way?
• What is the relationship between national minorities and the majority people maintained by the national councils? Who and in what way coordinates work of councils and how could it be improved?
• If we look at the councils of different national minorities, and above all the two most numerous communities in Serbia, the Albanian and Hungarian national councils, what similarities and differences do we see in their functioning?
• Is a different form of cooperation of national minorities possible for the sake of joint effective action in the field of culture, official use of language and script, public information and education, and how could it be achieved? What contributions to the rights of national minorities (to the collective or to individuals) could new forms of cooperation bring?

The event will be photographed and recorded due to publishing on social networks, the website and other information channels for the purpose of promoting the event and activities of the Institute.