A delegation of the Association of Serbs in Austria, headed by the President Mladen Filipović, visited three provinces over the past weekend – Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Salzburg. During these visits, Filipović and Aleksandar Matić met with representatives of provincial communities and organizations in the three provinces.

With a warm welcome offered by the hosts and through constructive communication, everyone showed readiness for comprehensive work and implementation of future projects. The Salzburg meeting took place in the premises of the Consulate General of Serbia in the presence of the Consul General Vera Vukićević.

Dialogue Opportunity

Members of the board of directors of the Association of Serbs also visited the temple in Kufstein, currently under construction, where they were hosted by Father Mihail Gavrilović. According to them, both visits offered a valuable opportunity for dialogue and ties strengthening among Serbs in Austria, and for defining clear goals for the comprehensive benefit of the entire Serbian community in Austria. Filipović says that the purpose of visiting the provinces is to map Serbian associations and organizations at the level of Austria, and for the Association with its new management to present its program and goals while learning at the same time about the problems of Serbian associations there.

‘We are working on gathering all the organizations in provincial communities and we want to create a functioning structure with the Association. Our goal is to bring together Serbs around jointly defined goals and strategies. We want to help solve the existing problems within communities,’ he explained.

Community Revival

Filipović says that the Association strives to revive dormant communities and to rejuvenate them at the same time.

‘The Association will not be the one to interfere within organizations, but wants to be the coordinator and leader of the most important projects of national interest in Austria. One of the priorities is to provide support for capacity building of associations and clubs to act as efficiently and effectively as possible in an operational sense in supporting our people in Austria. It is communities and clubs that are closest to the people,’ he added.

He noted that the Association would also work on increasing the media visibility of the Serbian community in Austria, with the intent to increase the political engagement of Serbs. According to him, the Association will have its own portal posting announcements from every club and community, and reports from every event in Austria in order to raise the visibility of Serbs and their networking.

‘Even the smallest organizations are important to us as the Association, and we will visit all the clubs to meet everyone,’ he said.

Financial Support

Filipović stated that the Association would also publish a register of Austrian, homeland and EU institutions to enable all associations, communities and clubs to apply for financial support. In addition, the Association also wants to involve the people dealing with the Serbian language in Austria in order to define clear goals for putting into action the acquiring of Serbian language status.

Source: Vesti online

Photo: Z. Mirković