Hungarians in Romania united for more regional competences and for a strong Europe

In Miercurea Ciuc / Csíkszereda / Szeklerburg, FUEN President Hans Heinrich Hansen conveyed warm greetings, on behalf of the minorities in Europe that are united in FUEN, to around 1000 delegates of the Democratic Alliance of the Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ). (See the speech on YouTube)

The assembly of RMDSZ, which takes place every two years, started with the speeches of an impressive list of guests from the sphere of Romanian and Hungarian politics. First of all the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta (Social Democrats) had come to the Székely Land: “Unfortunately I did not succeed to include the Hungarians in Romania in the governing coalition during the negotiations after the elections last year – I regret that”, said Ponta, calling upon all the citizens of Romania to “accept the unique gift of multilingualism” and promising the Hungarians his active support.

The President of the Hungarians in Romania, Hunor Kelemen, summarised the core demands and challenges for the Hungarians in his congress speech: “We demand autonomy for the Hungarians in Romania. Territorial autonomy in Székely Land, where we are the majority and in those areas where we are a minority, we want cultural autonomy”, said Hunor Kelemen. He continued: “We shall not use the demand for autonomy as a weapon. We have to make compromises with the majority. Only if Romania is prosperous, also the Hungarians in Romania will prosper”, said the President.

The revision of the constitution of Romania was mentioned by Hunor Kelemen as another important goal in order to achieve recognition of the Hungarians as an integral part of Romania. The Hungarians in Romania seek an amendment to Article 1 of the constitution, to include a reference of the Hungarians as part of the Romanian state. 
A third topic mentioned by the President was the European Citizens’ Initiative of the minorities in Europe, as “the main project for the coming two years.” He guaranteed that RMDSZ will deliver 250,000 signatures and thanked the FUEN-representatives Hans Heinrich Hansen and Jan Diedrichsen, who were present, for good cooperation.

The European Citizens’ Initiative was mentioned in several speeches. The words of the Vice President of the Hungarian Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the Socialist Party, István Ujhelyi, attracted some attention. He said: “The Socialist Party of Hungary decided to support the citizens’ initiative. We will make our infrastructure available and will support you in collecting the signatures, if you wish so.”

With 1.3 million people, the Hungarians are the largest minority of Romania and they are represented in parliament with 18 members. In total Romania has 21 minorities. Every minority (except for the Aromanians) is represented in the parliament with a reserved seat. The union of the minorities in Hungary also held a greeting speech at the congress.

(Photo: RMDSZ.ro)

(27 May 2013)