It is a strong political dogma in Romania that the country solved in an exemplary way the protection of national minorities. But if one takes a closer look to the real situation will observe that the reality is totally different. Just some recent examples:

An alarming case

The Democratic Alliance of the Hungarians in Romania held its congress last week. For this occasion a public message of President Klaus Iohannis appeared on the official homepage of the Romanian presidency addressing the participants of the congress. There was great satisfaction among the local Hungarian media regarding this message, as it happened for the first time that a Romanian political leader admitted, that there is much to do regarding the respecting of the rights of national minorities in Romania. More importantly, – Iohannis added that the authorities must also take into consideration the culture and identity of the people living in specific areas of the country, when creating administrative regions.

In the document on public order and public safety for the 2015-2020 period, recently released for public discussion, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is interpreting its own responsibilities in a way that is unworthy for a constitutional state. The twenty-page long text adopted by the government is calling a legitimate community demand, the Szekler autonomy aspiration, a “criminal phenomenon” that "poses a constant threat to the citizens' welfare and safety”. According to the document, the demand for territorial autonomy is a “racist, xenophobic and extremist manifestation”. To make things worse, according to the superficial wording, racism and xenophobia can only be considered a source of threat if it is aimed at achieving a region’s autonomy. In other words, racism and xenophobia is permissible, according to the Romanian government, as long as its aim is a national minority’s violent assimilation, expulsion or extermination or any other criminal offense against a person or group.

Bucharest considers autonomy requests a safety threat

Despite the hopes that had arisen from the election of a minority candidate as President of the country last November, Romania lately seems to return full-speed to the darkest pages of its recent past.

After the unlawful ban of the anti-government protest in Marosvásárhely/Targu Mures, we have to raise awareness of a new infringement of the Romanian authorities.

Every year the Szekler National Council organizes the Day of the Szekler Freedom in order to demonstrate against the planned administrative reform of Romania, which would be extremely detrimental for the Szekler community as Szeklerland would be incorporated into a region in which Hungarians constituted less than 30% of the total population. A major challenge of organizing this event year by year, is that Romanian authorities are not always cooperative, and often use various means to put obstacles in front of the organizers, including unlawful ones. The Day of the Szekler Freedom consisted of two parts: 1) A demonstration held at an obelisk commemorating the martyrdom of Szekler’s who fought for Hungarian freedom under Habsburg oppression, and 2) a march from the obelisk to the building of the local government of Maros County.

Dear Chairman, fellow participants, ladies and gentleman!

It is an honour to be here again, representing the Hungarian speaking Szekler community of Romania. “The Draft recommendations on preventing and addressing violence and atrocity crimes targeted against minorities” are of utmost importance to us, as a community that has previously suffered from violence. Although our situation has improved since the political transition of 1989, and the election of Klaus Werner Johannis as President of Romania has opened up a realistic chance of deepening democracy, we still live in a country where ethnic tensions continue to exist. According to the Council of Europe‘s Recommendation 1334 (2003), which was adopted based on the report of Andreas Gross, the roots of these tensions in most countries, including Romania, “can very often be traced to the dichotomy between the principle of indivisibility of states and the principle of identity, and are rooted in tensions between states and minority groups which demand the right to preserve their identities.”

In the previous months the attention of the whole world, and that of the European Union as well, was captured by Ukraine and Scotland. The events taking place in these two countries have a number of similarities, but a major difference must be noticed: In Scotland the question regarding the independence of the country was decided – based on an agreement of the interested parties – through a referendum, whereas in Ukraine, violence came to the fore, instead of democratic solutions claiming not only material damages, but human sacrifices as well.

One year after the Great March of the Szeklers, we are pleased to note that the event still has a decisive impact on public life, can open new perspectives for dialog and its international effects are no less noteworthy. The re-appearance of the Project on Ethnic Relations in Romania is a consequence of this, and this needs to be taken into account, at least during the started negotiations.

On the 18th of September, the Bucharest Court of Appeal has discusssed in substance Izsák Balázs’s application. The president of the Szekler National Council has turned to the National Anti-Discrimination Council, against Prime Minister Victor Viorel Ponta, President Traian Basescu, Deputy Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea and former Chairman of the Senate Crin Antonescu, because they previously declared, that the creation of a region having Hungarian majority as part of Romania’s administrative reform is out of the question. The Anti-Discrimination Council led by Asztalos Csaba rejected the complaints on the grounds that the freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, and fundamental human rights apply also to the public institutions of the state.