This document provides summaries of news articles about Hungarian communities abroad and issues related to Hungarian minority rights. It discusses the launch of a new website about Hungarian diaspora communities, a debate in Transylvania about the need for a third Hungarian political party, plans to open an office for the Szeklerland region in Brussels, amendments made to Slovakia's law on minority language use, developments regarding Hungary's new constitution, and other community news from areas including Vojvodina, Transcarpathia, Austria, Croatia, Prekmurje, and the United States.

1. Weekly Media Review
of Hungarian
Communities Abroad
22/2011

2. Homepage for dispersed Hungarians
Hungary
A newly launched homepage called ”Szorvany.hu” is designed to present Hungarian
communities living dispersed or in diasporas. The page has an overt goal to arouse
interest in discovering Hungarian communities living all over the world. Visitors may
download statistics, contacts of Hungarian diaspora institutions and permanently
updated academic literature pertaining to scattered Hungarians. Maps and planned trips
make the website more interactive and valuable.
Debate over the third party
Is there a need for a third Hungarian party of Transylvania? Would this political diversity
Transylvania - Erdély
divide or strengthen the Hungarian community? Should the parties continue to co-operate,
is the way of co-operation evident? These and other questions constituted the core of a
debate held on a Hungarian public television channel, Duna TV. The tripartite discussion
served as a good occasion to know more about the power perceptions of the
representatives. General secretary of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania
(RMDSZ) Péter Kovács believes that it is bad that three parties contest for the votes of
Hungarians. Aspirants of the RMDSZ would try themselves in direct and secret pre-
elections. Those who had beaten a retreat in that kind of contest are now thinking about a
new party – referred Kovács to his partners at the debate and added that he did not
believe in that solution.
Head of the Hungarian Civic Party (MPP) Jenő Szász joined by stating that in
democratizing the Transylvanian Hungarian society there is still a lot to do in comparison
with the home-state. MPP leader argued that “ we are lagging behind by twenty-two years
in comparison to Hungarian society and at least by twenty-one years in correlation with
the Romanian one.” According to his opinion, a bipolar political system should prevail,
where RMDSZ is on the one end, while the co-operation of the MPP, the Szekler National
Council and the National Council of Hungarians in Transylvania is on the other end of the
scale-pan as a national alternative. Kovács responded that although RMDSZ did not shout
autonomy every day, it was still the most committed Hungarian organization in Romania
in national terms. Vice-president of the National Council of Hungarians in Transylvania
(EMNT), Előd Papp, deems the forming of the Hungarian People’s Party in Transylvania
crucial. The failure of the minority act or the Szekler memorandum prompted the
foundation of the new party. Papp said that the National Council must not rely on strictly
on words any more. “We have already said at the beginning that a pre-election should be
held in order to have a Hungarian cadastre that was in fact sworn upon by the then RMDSZ
leader Béla Markó in 2003. We are now ready for it“ – said Papp. Kovács noted that a
cooperation agreement failed between the RMDSZ and the EMNT in 2007 as a result of
Szász’s obstruction. However, it was successful two years later; it is important now to lay
down the conditions of working together – added the RMDSZ member.
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3. Szeklerland in Brussels
On 31 May, three MEPs will host a reception in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels
to celebrate the opening of the Szeklerland’s representation bureau that will have its office
in the House of Hungarian Regions. The initiative coming from three Transylvanian MEPs
Csaba Sógor and Gyula Winkler (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romanian) and the
Transylvania - Erdély
vice-president of the EP László Tőkés is meant to gather, process and transmit information
about EU policies and institutional problems and to inform local governments about
decisions made by the EP, European Commission, the Committee of Regions and other EU
bodies. It further aims to strengthen representation of the three Szekler counties’ interests
regarding European projects by establishing contacts with European institutions and
partnerships with other EU regions, but also by networking and lobbying. However, a
mounting criticism takes place in Romania and the EU as well. Members of the ruling
Democrat Liberal Party and of the opposition vehemently criticized the three Hungarian
MEPs’ plan to open a diplomatic representation of the Szekler Land. The vice president of
the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, the democrat-liberal
Marian Jean Marinescu said the plan is a “useless provocation,” as no European institution
will “discuss anything with a representation that doesn’t represent anything officially.”
Marinescu added that the three counties that would be represented by the Szekler Land
office – Kovászna/Covasna, Hargita/Harghita and Maros/Mures – were already
represented by the Committee of Regions in Brussels. “In my opinion, it’s a provocation
and I don’t know what they wanted to prove or to gain, except for giving birth to
animosities and discussions” – said the politician. Social-Democrats and Liberals as well
slammed the initiative as “worrisome, unacceptable and provocative.” Liberal MEP Norica
Nicolai said her party’s European lawmakers will discuss the matter in the Liberal-
Democratic group this afternoon. The Romanian foreign ministry also announced last
week that it took steps to clarify the situation and voiced regret for any action to
inaugurate a “representation” for a “so-called administrative-territorial unit” that did not
actually exist and had no legal or constitutional grounds. The minister also underlined that
according to EU practices, any recognized territorial-administrative unit within member
states is entitled to open representation offices in Brussels. On the other hand, RMDSZ
leader Hunor Kelemen refuted the criticism, saying that the Romanian society would have
got so enraged if regions such as Tara Motilor or Bucovina would have made a similar
move. Kelemen told that the opening of a Szekler Land representation in Brussels is not an
unconstitutional or immoral gesture. He explained that the project began with an initiative
of Hargita and Kovászna county council leaders two-three years ago, aimed at finding an
office to connect with Brussels institutions in order to attract more funds to the two
counties. The project was then joined by Maros county.
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4. “Final” Act on Use of Minority Languages
Slovakia - Felvidék
Last Wednesday. the Slovak coalition managed to pass the amendment to the Act on Use of
Minority Languages drafted by vice-prime minister Rudolf Chmel (Most-Híd). 78 out of 79
coalition MPs voted in favour of the proposal that is slightly more than the half of the
mandates in the national assembly. The final version of the adopted law is rather different
than the original proposal submitted by Béla Bugár's Most-Híd party, due to a number of
objections raised by the independent MP and leader of the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS)
faction Igor Matovič. The current twenty-percent threshold for the official use of minority
languages in ethnically mixed towns and villages will be reduced to 15 percent. The twist
of the act is that new municipalities will be put in the 15 percent threshold list if the two
consecutive censuses asserts the needed number of the minority, so the implementation of
the law is pushed out to 2021. Matovič also pushed the concession through that the
consent of the local councillor body will not be enough in order to have town council
deliberations in minority languages, the consent of the mayor is also compulsory.
Furthermore, members of minority communities will not be able to use their language
everywhere in Slovakia as the original proposal stipulated, and healthcare as well as social
facilities will not be required to hire translators for minority languages. Most-Híd
chairman Béla Bugár declared that "It is a sensible compromise. We wanted a lot more,
our colleagues wanted a lot less, but this is a step forward". Bugár added that this was a
great accomplishment on the part of the Slovak government. However, Most-Híd expects
president Ivan Gašparovič to return the law back to the House". The Hungarian Coalition
Party (MKP) is unhappy about the amendment to the Act on the Use of Minority
Languages. The piece of legislation fails to consider recommendations made by the Council
of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Venice
Commission and other international organisations.
Slovakia builds on friendly co-operation
Last Friday, the Slovak parliament passed a resolution quashing any extra-territorial
effects of the new Hungarian Constitution. "Parliament assures all citizens of Slovakia that
it is exclusively the Slovak Constitution, Slovakia's laws and international commitments
that are in effect on Slovakia's territory," reads the resolution, which gained support of all
coalition MPs present at the vote. The opposition was against, doing so in protest of having
their resolution proposal rejected from even being debated in the house. The passed
document declares interest in maintaining good neighbourly relations with Hungary - in
the spirit of modern Europeanness and of values that the European Union is built upon, as
well as in line with the Agreement on Good Neighbourhood and Friendly Cooperation
between Slovakia and Hungary. The parliament also confirms in the resolution Slovakia's
undertaking concerning applying the individual (and not collective) rights principle, is
doing so as a sovereign state exercising its own jurisdiction.
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5. The logic of assimilation
According to sociologist Zsuzsanna Lampl, many conceive assimilation as a process that
first or last has to be logically completed. The strengthening dominance of the Slovak
language proves as a prime cause of assimilation. However, not only Slovaks speak their
own language, but also Hungarians in a growing number. Lampl states that Hungarians
use Slovak in conversations not only with Slovak people. Based on research of the Forum
Minority Research Institute in Somorja, the last ten years show an adverse tendency. In all
fields of public communication, the number of people speaking Hungarian is diminishing.
Figures underpin the statement: with 15 percent less people use Hungarian in shops (from
45% to 30%); official communication in Hungarian which fell short of 20 percent, now
stands at 14 percent. It was also estimated that only 56 percent of Hungarians speak
Hungarian with their neighbours. This ratio was 64 percent. Every fifth Hungarian
Transcarpathia Vojvodina - Vajdaság
respondent used Slovak when speaking with his/her Hungarian partner. Using Hungarian
within the family depicts a negative trend as well.
Hungarian Hope Movement to run independently in elections
Head of the Hungarian Hope Movement Bálint László announced that his party will
contest the next election independently. László said the Movement that is the youngest
party in Vajdaság/Vojvodina will not run a joint list with Serbian parties. “Our purpose is
to have our own representatives in local governments where we have local organizations
and to have at least one representative at state level” – stated the president whose party
overtly supports the nationalist Jobbik party of Hungary.
Education matters
The Hungarian educational institutions called upon the Ukrainian education minister
Dmitro Tabacsnik for examining the problems encountered when dealing with the
education of Transcarpathian Hungarians. Problems arise from the fact that students
applying for the Hungarian language and literature course are not allowed to take an
entrance exam in the chosen language, since these subjects are not listed as public
educational subjects in which advanced final exams may be taken. On the contrary,
Russian is eligible as of this school year. Seemingly, it is easy to say that the current
power has just given lip service to national minorities in its promises prior to the 2010
president-election.
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6. Proposed Act on Ethnic Groups
Austria
The new draft legislation is done on ethnic groups of Austria. The new constitutional law
lists 164 townships in Carinthia where bilingual place name boards are compulsory. The
regulation of official language use applies to Hungarian, Croatian and Slovenian as well,
where the population is bilingual.
Gold Merit Cross to Pasza
Croatia
On 20 May, the Hungarian ambassador of Croatia Gábor Iván presented the honorary
president of the Democratic Community of Hungarians in Croatia Árpád Pasza with the
Gold Merit Cross of the Hungarian Republic in recognition of his several decade long
ardent educational and public work as contributing to maintaining the Hungarian minority
of Croatia.
Prekmurje - Muravidék
House Speaker in Slovenia
House Speaker László Kövér had an official two-day visit to Slovenia. Kövér met the
Hungarian MP László Göncz, the president of the Prekmurje National Community of
Hungarian Local Governments Ferenc Horváth and the mayor of Lendva/Lendava Anton
Balazek. The House Speaker emphasized that strategic partnerships ties the two states.
The Slovenian and the Hungarian national communities would conclude a agreement
about how to assert their rights and interest in the governments. According to Kövér,
there is a high interest in Slovenia about how Hungary will realize the parliamentary
representation of national minorities in the frame of the electoral act reform.
Sándor Pákh dead at 104
On 23 May, near his home in New York valiant Sándor Pákh died at age 104. He left his
birthplace Munkács in 1977 and emigrated to the USA to join his son, who is an art
collector and the owner of the greatest Munkácsy-collection. The older Pákh was
honoured several times in Hungary for his selfless contribution to the Hungarian nation.
It was his merit that the Turul-bird – a symbol of the conquering Hungarians – gained its
worthy place in the Transcarpathian Munkács. His last wish was to acquire Hungarian
USA
citizenship due to the simplified naturalization. This wish fulfilled on 13 April at his
home.
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