Sremski Karlovci, 15 May - The AP Vojvodina Assembly President Juhász Bálint and Vice Presidents of the Assembly Nemanja Zavišić and Boris Novaković attended today in Sremski Karlovci the official celebration of the 176th Anniversary of the May Assembly, organised by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
Before the start of the ceremonial academy, the highest officials of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the AP Vojvodina Assembly, Provincial Government, City of Novi Sad and others laid wreaths at the memorial plaque on the building of the City Hall in Sremski Karlovci.
The AP Vojvodina Assembly President Juhász Bálint underscored that during the turning years in the European history for all, Serbian and Hungarian people shared and still share not only common history, but a common life in the last thousand years.
“Almost 160 years had to pass since the revolutionary 1848 and 70 years since the end of the Second World War, in order to
initiate the processes of historical reconciliation in Serbia, to close the open and, for both communities, painful historical issues and to demonstrate, thanks to the political wisdom and prudence of AP Vojvodina Assembly President István Pásztor and the Prime Minister at the time Aleksandar Vučić, the ability to face one’s own past,” said President Juhász.
He added that the last decade was a confirmation that we, as a society, political community and nations, had progressed only when the political wisdom and prudence prevailed over the policy of exclusion and intolerance.
“This last decade is the confirmation that only joint commitment guarantees the achievement of highly set goals. And as we have built strategically and in solidarity a common future so far, I am sure that the path of the political cooperation is the only answer to all the challenges of our time”, said President Juhász.
Addressing the audience, President of the Provincial Government Maja Gojković said that the May Assembly was one of the most significant events in our history, because it unequivocally expressed the centuries-old aspiration and desire for freedom of the Serbian people of Vojvodina and their unification with their brothers in Serbia.
“From here, Serbs loudly shouted that they wanted freedom of their language and religion, right to education and abolition of feudalism. The nations across Europe at that time, larger in population, materially wealthier and better organised, did not have the courage and willingness to take this road”, emphasised President Gojković.
Nemanja Starović, Minister for Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs also addressed the audience.
During the ceremony, the award of the Provincial Government “Milutin Milanković” in the field of science was presented to professor emeritus Božo Dalmacija, PhD, and the award “Pavle Jovanović” in the field of art was presented to Aleksandar Stanišić, the owner of “Stanišić” art foundry.
Within the celebration of the May Assembly, in the morning, a wreath laying ceremony
and commemoration services were held for the prominent figures of the May Assembly and the Serbian history.
In Pančevo, the AP Vojvodina Assembly Vice Presidents Nemanja Zavišić and Boris Novaković, on behalf of the AP Vojvodina Assembly, laid a wreath on the monument of the first Serbian Vojvodina Voivode Stevan Šupljikac, and attended the commemoration service in Krušedol Monastery.
Vice Presidents Zavišić and Novaković also laid wreaths on the monument of the commander Đorđe Stratimirović in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Sremski Karlovci and on the grave of the commander Đorđe Stratimirović, in the Monastery of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sremski Karlovci, where a commemoration service was held for the commander Đorđe Stratimirović and Metropolitan Josif Rajačić.