Saturday 22 April 2000 
At the invitation of the Serbian Crown, with the blessing of the Serbian Church and in the spirit of the Szentendre [Budapest] Declaration, out of their concern for the future of their mortally endangered nation and state, representatives of the Serbian democratic opposition and the Diaspora as well as the distinguished figures of cultural, church and public life of Serbia, Montenegro, Republika Srpska and other areas where Serbs live, together with NGOs, trade unions and  other  representatives of civic society, met in Athens,  the cradle of democracy,  shortly before the greatest Christian  holiday  - Easter –  and unanimously approved  the following Declaration: 

1) General demands indicate that the time for democracy in Serbia has come. 
2) Free democratic elections under the supervision of the international community and a change of the system must be a first step on the path of Serbia’s return to the community of European nations and states and   Yugoslavia’s reintegration into the bodies of the UN, OESC and the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe, as well as   their return  to their rightful place in all related European and world institutions. 

         We wholeheartedly support the struggle of the Church and the Serbian     National Council of Kosovo and Metohia for the rights of Serbs in those  holy territories as  an example of moral courage and political wisdom which shows  the path to survival and the return of exiles. 

3)      After the elections,  the democratic administration in Serbia and Yugoslavia  must rest on the foundations of a constitution and a parliamentary system which  ensures the same rights and equality before Law to all citizens.     The rights of any individual can be neither restricted nor withheld, or placed outside and above Law. 
4)      The establishment of a democratic administration in Serbia will speed up: the  recovery of society and the economy;  transformation of the economy  on the basis of market movements; invigoration of the village and co-operative farmsteads; progress, adjustment and co-operation of home industries with  world economic movements and technologies. A healthy economy in Serbia will facilitate international trade and financial exchanges, create new jobs for the unemployed, impoverished and the exiled; it will also shorten the process of economic and social transformation. 

5)        A genuine choice of the future  - in the process of   basic democratic reforms  -  presupposes:  a  radical psychological-moral and cultural rebirth of the Serbian people  and their spiritual unity;  a sobering up of  the spirit of both the national community and   each individual;  full civic responsibility for the common good; goodwill and getting used to each other; and mutual toleration.   Political freedoms cannot be either achieved or made sense of in an uneducated, impoverished and neglected people.  Without healing the spirit of the people and without a clear and critical perception of oneself, there can be no worthy and secure future.  Those responsible for the suffering and for defeats of the nation should be brought to face justice, but justice knows no vindictiveness.   The rule of law, common sense and enlightenment must serve as the basis of civic security in a democratic, constitutional Serbia of the new century and the new millennium. 

6)          Civic rights and  freedoms in tomorrow’s Serbia will be founded on: the general right to education;  freedom of creativity and science;  independent public opinion and  responsible  public speech;  unimpeded flow  of information; right to responsible criticism of public figures and public institutions and the right  to  personal initiative; broad exchange of ideas and goods; and social and health services. 

7)         Following the agreement between the opposition parties of 10 January 2000 and the big rally [in Belgrade] of 14 April 2000, as a further stimulus to  the unity of the opposition, the Athens conference has put forward a proposal for the setting up of a Council of Democratic Forces of Serbia. The Council would consist of representatives of political parties and   political opposition coalitions, students, the Diaspora and the Group 17 Plus. It was proposed that the Council would be chaired by HRH Crown Prince Alexander and His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Pavle, or their authorised representatives. The Council would take decisions of strategic importance for the action of the united opposition and would agree in advance that the final harmonisation of its decisions will be carried out by the Council chairmen.