The Declaration of the Democratic Party on Serbia

1) The Democratic Debate on National and State Interests of Serbia

The state interests of Serbia and the interests of the Serbian people in Yugoslavia have not as yet been defined in the democratic debate within the framework of political institutions and with the participation of the political factors. Those interests were dealt with only within the small circle of people or exclusively by Slobodan Milosevic. Thus, on the one hand, the state and national interests were left to personal prejudice, while on the other hand, the exclusion of the political institutions from the decision making process has degraded these institutions, primarily the Serbian Assembly and the Serbian Government in the mind of the Serbian citizens. The mistrust of the effectiveness of the official institutions gave rise to the extremist movements which have been offering "quick" and "radical" solution with unparalleled aggressiveness.

2) Serbia-the sovereign state

Serbia should be a sovereign state within its present administrative borders. It should devise its constitution in a democratic way, it should create its own professional army and introduce a healthy currency. There are many other ethnic groups living in Serbia and thus its institutions should provide the guarantees concerning national and religious tolerance. The rights of national minorities should be protected by the state organization, among other things, with the proportional participation within the organs of power, which would render the existence of purely political parties obsolete.

The Democratic Party requires that the historical agreement be reached with the large ethnic groups which live in Serbia - the Albanians living in Kosovo and Metohija, Hungarians living in Vojvodina, Moslims living in Sandzak, concerning both the common life in the democratic Serbia and the loyalty to that state.

The way the problems are being settled today in Kosovo and Metohija - with the introduction of total enforced administration without any kind of agreement.

3) Serbs outside Serbia

The Democratic Party wants the Serbian majority living in the fringe parts of Croatia, as well as the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be in the position to freely decide on their preferred mode of existence within the state. The Democratic Party believes that as a result of this free voting procedure the territorial and political units will be formed with all the state attributes and the with majority Serbia population, or the Bosnian- Herzegovine state will be formed in association with Serbia, Montenegro and possibly Macedonia.

4) The Future State Organization

Serbia should enter the association with the political units which would be formed in the above mentioned way as well as with Montenegro, Macedonia and other democratic states which opt for such a state organization. The degree of the inter-connection between the state and other regions and states should later be specified in the agreement which especially treats this relationship.