After initially voting in favour of a proposed amendment by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ/UDMR), which was meant to extend the linguistic rights of minorities in the fields of healthcare and social assistance, three parties, namely the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) and the People’s Movement Party (PMP), objected to the proposed amendment at the Constitutional Court of Romania. This sudden change of opinion on the part of the three parties is both absurd and offensive, and can only be interpreted as an assault against the Hungarian community and against human rights in general.
MINORITY RIGHTS IN ROMANIA: ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK?
BILINGUAL SIGNS VANDALISED
A recent event in Toplița/Maroshévíz points out once more the existence of anti-Hungarian sentiment in Romania. On Tuesday morning locals found that on the bilingual (Romanian-Hungarian) place-name signs marking the various entrances into Toplița/Maroshévíz, the name of the city in Hungarian had been painted over during the night.
New dimension in anti-Hungarian discourse at Romanian sports events
“Out with the Hungarians from the country” – was shouted out loud at a stadium in Bucharest, where two Romanian teams were playing in Liga II (the second tier league of the Romanian football league system). Needless to say, one of the teams was Sepsi OSK – Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy from Szeklerland, a team with a strong Hungarian background.
The flag of Transylvania – a subject of heated debate
In this week’s newsletter we report on an incident that happened in Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár on the 15th of March during the commemoration of the 1848-49 Hungarian Revolution. The local Jandarmerie (Gendarmerie) fined representatives of the Hungarian People’s Party of Transylvania (EMNP) for carrying the regional flag of Transylvania. They were asked to either roll up the flags or leave the premises. At the insistence of the officers some of them rolled up the flag, but four people eventually received a warning and were fined for not complying, among them the local president of the EMNP, Ernő FANCSALI.
PUBLIC USE OF MINORITY SYMBOLS CONTINUOUSLY BANNED IN ROMANIA
The case of the Szekler flag, which represents the regional ethnic identity of the Hungarians living in the heart of Romania called Szeklerland, has become a rather controversial subject as far as the attitude of the Romanian authorities towards the national and regional symbols of the minorities is concerned. Despite the fact that the Constitution of Romania guarantees the right to identity for all citizens, it is becoming more and more apparent that there are some who are more equal than others.