Loránt Vincze: A mature Union means a responsible Union for its minorities

FUEN President Loránt Vincze attended the annual minority conference organized by the Dr. György Bernády Cultural Foundation in Târgu Mureș/Marosvásárhely, Romania, on Friday (30 September). 

The seminar "Transylvanism and national communities - in theory and practice" gathered this year representatives of several minority organizations from Romania, including the Hungarian, German, Roma, Jewish, Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Tatar and Hungarian-Armenian community, the representative of the Romanian Government, several politicians, historians and minority rights NGOs. Hosted by MP László Borbély, the conference has been organized since 1999 to promote minority topics and better understanding between minority and majority.

In his presentation about minority protection in Europe the FUEN President said: "There are some missed historical moments in both Romanian and European history when inter-ethnic relations and the rights of national communities could have been addressed and solved, but it was not the case. Today, we are so-to-say doomed to make corrections along the way. After the fall of communism in Romania, there was no political will to build up a strong autonomy for the communities, neither at least a chance for dialogue about collective rights, so it is about time to start moving in this direction."

In his view, the same thing happened to the European Union: the protection of minorities was not a topic that all the negotiating parties could agree about. As a result, 60 million people, every seventh European citizen, were left without adequate EU level protection especially regarding their identity, mother tongue and culture. 

Mr Vincze made it clear: "We may speak of maturity in the EU when it shall not only manage to value ethnic minorities, but also protect this European value. The common aspiration of each minority, from east to west, from north to south, is to halt the assimilation process and to reverse the demographic loss."

The president of the FUEN also added that the current European agenda might not allow minority protection to become a common EU policy, yet the mission of the FUEN is to establish a dialogue with European institutions. He recalled the Minority SafePack European Citizens' Initiative, subject of an appeal at the EU Court of Justice following its rejection by the European Commission. Mr Vincze expressed his optimism regarding the upcoming decision of the EU Court.