Our organisation learned with alarm that AUR has submitted to Parliament a bill that would make the expression of patriotism mandatory, and which, moreover, has already passed tacitly through the upper house of the Romanian Parliament. The parliamentary initiative in question would not only prescribe the mandatory celebration of Romanian Flag Day, but would also oblige central and local officials present at the event to kiss the Romanian tricolour in protocol order. Those who refuse to do so, or stay away, would be fined between 5,000 and 10,000 lei.
The bill goes even further: radio and television broadcasters would be required to dedicate at least 30 minutes of airtime to Flag Day, and failure to do so could be punished with fines of between 10,000 and 20,000 lei. In Bucharest and in every county seat, a public space called “Piața Tricolorului” would be created, with a 30-metre flagpole, while ceremonies would be made compulsory in schools, military units, as well as embassies and consulates, among others. The bill would also prescribe the placement of the flag inside churches and its blessing as part of a religious ceremony, which raises serious questions from the point of view of church autonomy and freedom of religion as well. If we want to call the nature of the bill by its name, all of this is distinctly reminiscent of Legionary ideology.
Our organisation finds it particularly alarming that the initiative was signed by 71 members of Parliament. Alongside AUR MPs, the supporters include PSD, PNL, independent and minority representatives. This is also why our organisation considers it important to draw broad public attention to the bill, because we believe that in the present political chaos many political deals may be struck which, under normal circumstances, might never take place.
We have seen that UDMR spokesperson Botond Csoma condemned the bill in a firm statement, saying: “The Hungarian community in Romania is at home here. We do not accept that we, or anyone else, should have to prove that we love our country by kissing something on command.”
Our organisation takes the same position. Patriotism clearly cannot, and must not, be forced through fines. This would be contrary to every basic democratic norm and would make a mockery of freedom of opinion. It is an old national-communist style, so characteristic of the Ceaușescu era. For Hungarians in Transylvania, this bill evokes the grim memory of the national-communist dictatorship, which, alongside the complete absence of political freedom, treated the forced national assimilation of the Hungarian community in Transylvania as an equally important task and objective.
Erika Benkő, head of the Mikó Imre Legal Rights Protection Service, said the following in connection with all of this: “For us at the Service, this latest proof of AUR’s chauvinistic and profoundly anti-Hungarian ideology is not surprising at all; over the years, we have seen that they have many such things up their sleeve. This bill was specifically written for Hungarians. To me, it is clear that humiliating Hungarians is the primary aim of this proposal. What makes all of this far more serious is AUR’s favourable political prospects, and the particularly frightening fact for Hungarians that they are covering an ever larger part of the political spectrum. It is important that everyone understands exactly what AUR’s advance entails, and also understands what a dangerous and undignified ideology they promote, and that anti-Hungarianism is fundamental to them – in fact, it is the very seed from which the party grew.”
(Photo: partidulaur.ro)