Despite the outrage of students, professors, prominent political leaders and the entire Hungarian community of Romania in general, the merge of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Târgu Mureș and the Petru Maior University was finalised in September, and consequently the already unstable and never quite fully materialised multicultural aspect of the university is in more peril than ever before, as the percentage of Hungarian students and professors dropped significantly. To add insult to injury, in early 2019 the senate of the university decided to establish an English faculty, after resisting for years the idea of creating a Hungarian department, as required by the 2011 Law on Education, on the grounds that it would violate the autonomy of the university.
Hungarian mayor has to pay exorbitant fine for refusing to take down the Szekler flag
The mayor of Miercurea Nirajului/Nyárádszereda is one of many Hungarian local officials who have been caught up in legal battles in recent years for putting up the Szekler flag on the buildings of the local administration.
Government Ordinance undermines access to quality education for pupils at the primary level
Ahead of the new school year, a Government Ordinance that was adopted on the 31st of August, which states that pupils at the primary level who are enrolled in a minority language education system have to be taught Romanian by a teacher who specialises in Romanian language and literature, and not by a primary school teacher, as was the practice until recently. Teachers, parents and educational experts alike have expressed their dismay at this latest shocking development, which puts a cloud over the start of school for many pupils and their teachers.
Traian Băsescu is once again disseminating hateful messages on his social media account
Former Romanian president Traian Băsescu has recently posted a text on his Facebook page in which he mentioned that on the 29th of July, the Day of the Romanian National Anthem, a black flag was raised on the town hall building of Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy, next to the national flag. Moreover, he added that “also in Szeklerland, mayors frequently hoist the Szekler flag on town halls and county council buildings instead of the national flag”.
President Klaus Iohannis launches an open attack against the linguistic rights of national minorities
After opposition parties attacked the new Administrative Code, this week President Klaus Iohannis also sent the said law back for review to the Constitutional Court, a law that included several provisions meant to guarantee linguistic rights for national minorities.