Following a recent court order, the Hungarian, the Szekler, as well as the administrative flag of the county had to be removed from the assembly hall of the Covasna County Council.
Basically all flags relating either to the national, the regional or the local Hungarian identity were ordered to be taken down, while all other flags that have been in the hall for years (for example the flag of Israel or the flag of the USA) can stay – as pointed out by Sándor Tamás, the president of the County Council. This sends a clear message from the Romanian justice system that Hungarian identity markers are not tolerated in Romania.
The decision of the courts points to a clear double standard in Romania. The Hungarian flag was removed, while flags of other countries were not, although the same law applies to all flags of foreign countries. Moreover, as our organisation has repeatedly signalled in our reports and newsletters, the regional flag of Szeklerland is also persecuted by Romanian authorities, despite the fact that other historical regions in Romania, such as Bucovina or Moldova, can use their flags freely. Finally, at present Covasna and Harghita counties, the only two counties in the country that have a Hungarian majority, are also the only ones that are not allowed to use their county flags.
This recent court order is all the more worrisome as it comes only days after courts gave an unprecedented exorbitant fine to the mayor of Corund/Korond for not taking down the “Town Hall” inscription in Hungarian, thus signalling an escalation in the persecution of Hungarian symbols and inscriptions by Romanian authorities. In contrast, Lóránt Vincze, the president of FUEN, drew attention to the bilingual (Romanian-German) Primăria – Rathaus inscription on the forefront of the town hall in Ghimbav/Vidombák/Weidenbach, where the German population constitutes a mere 1%, but the German inscription was allowed, nonetheless. Vincze commended the local administration for being mindful of the German heritage of Ghimbav/Vidombák/Weidenbach, and reproached the double standard applied by the Romanian state, which is not willing to show the same consideration towards the Hungarian community of Romania.