Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (1995–1998)

Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (Serbian: Источна Славонија, Барања и Западни Срем, romanized: Istočna Slavonija, Baranja i Zapadni Srem; Croatian: Istočna Slavonija, Baranja i Zapadni Srijem), commonly abbreviated as Eastern Slavonia (Serbian: Источна Славонија, romanized: Istočna Slavonija; Croatian: Istočna Slavonija), was a short-lived Serb parallel entity in the territory of Croatia along the Danube river.

The entity encompassed the same territory as the SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, which was formed in 1991, and was an exclave had been merged into the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina. When the latter entity was defeated at the end of the Croatian War of Independence in 1995, the territory of Eastern Slavonia remained in place for another three years in which it experienced significant changes ultimately leading to peaceful reintegration via the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES).

In the period between August 1995 and January 1996, the region functioned as a rump territory of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. The period was marked by increased insecurity and expectation of the Croatian military offensive. A diplomatic solution that avoided the conflict in Eastern Slavonia was reached on 12 November 1995 via the signing of the Erdut Agreement with significant support and facilitation from the international community (primarily the United States, the United Nations, and various European actors).

As the result of the fact that the UNTAES became the effective government of the region, from January 1996 onwards local parallel institutions of the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia started functioning primarily as the consociational representative institutions of the Serb community in the region. As such, they were acknowledged and involved in elaborate power-sharing initiatives by the UNTAES, yet they were gradually abolished as the local Serb community got exponentially more integrated and involved in power-sharing in regular mainstream institutions of the Croatian state/society. At the same time, Croat and other refugees from the region and Croatian institutions gradually returned to the region. Croatian state officials were welcomed to the region by the UNTAES administration including at the time of the first visit by the President of Croatia Franjo Tuđman in late 1996 when the head of the UNTAES Jacques Paul Klein organized a meeting between Croat and Serb delegation at the UNTAES headquarters in Vukovar.

With the abolition of the parallel Serb bodies of the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, the local Serb community began to exercise its right to establish regular institutions and bodies of cultural self-government. The main one of them was the Joint Council of Municipalities, an elected consultative sui generis inter-municipal body created to advocate for the interests of the Serb community in the region. This process was consequential for the rest of Croatia as well as it enabled the creation of other statewide bodies such as the Serb National Council. International community remained present in the region primarily in observers capacity via the United Nations Civilian Police Support Group (16 January 1998–15 October 1998) and OSCE Mission to Croatia (1996–2007).