The new management of the Association of Serbs in Austria is working to achieve its goal of gathering Serbs throughout Austria and reactivating Serbian associations. Thus, a meeting of the Association of Serbs in Austria and the Union of Serbian Clubs in Styria was held in Graz, where the Union was reorganized after several years of stagnation. This enabled new organizations to join and now there are real conditions for the achievement of the common goals of Serbs – right to language, status of a recognized ethnic community, Orthodox religious education in schools, etc.

Goran Jović, who was elected president of the Union of Serbian Clubs of Styria, says that this umbrella organization is starting to function from the beginning, in much better circumstances.

– I believe that we have matured and that we should build on this momentum. The reorganization has been completed and now we just need to follow the agreement and work for the general interest, rather than personal. For now, we have three clubs and these are mainly cultural and artistic societies, and other five organizations decided at the meeting to join us. A new energy can be felt and continuous work should ensue, meetings should be held circularly, once in each province, and twice a year in the headquarters – said Jović.

Dejan Segić, a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Serbs in Austria, stated that Serbian people in Austria lacked most of their collective rights and that this generation of Serbs should not sweep the accumulated problems under the carpet.

– We have to get things started, and for that we need an organized structure to represent Serbs in Austria, which will not only be open to all Serbs, but whose task will be to cover all Serbian organizations active in Austria. Naturally, it must have its own regional bodies and bodies at the Association level. With God’s help and unity of all Serbian associations in Austria, the Union of Serbian Clubs in Styria has been reactivated and I hope that it will come to life with the support of the Association of Serbs and other organizations that bring our people together – said Segić, who is also a member of the secretariat of Viennese Prosvjeta.

Source and photo: Vesti online