RFE/RL: More repercussions on Hungarian 'Status Law'
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Subject: RFE/RL: More repercussions on Hungarian 'Status Law'
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: RFE/RL <[email protected]>
RFE/RL: More repercussions on Hungarian 'Status Law'
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See MINELRES posting of 22 April, 2001 at
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive//06222001-09:19:13-18725.html
Boris
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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 5, No. 122, Part II, 27 June 2001
EU COMMISSIONER ON HUNGARIAN STATUS LAW. EU commissioner for
enlargement Verheugen on 26 June told journalists in Luxembourg that
the EU is still examining the details of the recently passed Status
Law, but that its provisions as formulated by the Hungarian parliament
do not contradict those of the EU's association agreement. He
explained that the Status Law contains a provision voiding the law's
applicability to ethnic Hungarians who are citizens of EU countries.
It thus does not infringe on the EU association agreement, which
prohibits granting "inadmissible advantages" to any group of EU
citizens after accession. Verheugen also said the EU has called on the
Hungarian government to continue intensive consultations with Croatia,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia regarding the
law. Those countries are not EU members and the Status Law will apply
to ethnic Hungarians there. Verheugen made the comments following a
meeting of the EU-Slovak association council, CTK and Reuters
reported. MS
ROMANIA MOVES RESOLUTION AGAINST STATUS LAW AT PACE... The Romanian
delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) on 26 June submitted a draft resolution calling on Hungary to
"suspend" the implementation of the Status Law passed by the Hungarian
parliament on 19 June, Mediafax reported. The delegation enlisted the
support of 26 representatives from France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, the
Netherlands, and Denmark in favor of the draft, which could come to
debate at the PACE fall session, if earlier approved by its Judicial
Committee. The resolution says the Status Law introduces
"discrimination" in neighboring countries between their ethnic
Hungarian minorities and the ethnic majorities, violates those
countries' territorial integrity by introducing "extraterritoriality"
as a principle, and is in contradiction to several European
conventions on national minorities. MS
..AND PREMIER COMPLAINS TO EC. Prime Minister Adrian Nastase wrote to
European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi saying Romania supports the
granting of cultural rights to national minorities to preserve their
separate identity, but that granting those minorities special economic
and social rights, as the Status Law does, is "a negation of the
principle of nondiscrimination." Nastase also said the Status Law
establishes a dangerous precedent that could be used by Russia in the
Baltic countries or by Serbia in other states of the former
Yugoslavia, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 5, No. 121, Part II, 26 June 2001
PACE CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES HUNGARIAN STATUS LAW. Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) Chairman Lord Russell-Johnston,
responding to a Romanian journalist's question in Strasbourg on 25
June, said he "disagrees" with the recently passed Hungarian Status
Law and does not "even believe the law can bring about an improvement
of the situation of members of the Hungarian minority in neighboring
countries," according to a Romanian Radio report confirmed by
Hungarian media reports. Lord Russell-Johnston said the law "could
even provoke discontent in Hungary itself" and added that "on this
matter, I cannot agree with Prime Minister Viktor Orban." Hungarian
Laszlo Surjan, who is Russell-Johnston's PACE deputy, said in reaction
that the chairman had been caught "unprepared" by the journalist's
question and his reply "reflected his own private opinion." Romanian
PACE delegates said they are preparing a motion demanding that the
implementation of the Status Law be "suspended." MS
GREATER ROMANIA PARTY PROPOSES COUNTERMEASURES TO STATUS LAW.
The Greater Romania Party (PRM) parliamentary group in the Chamber of
Deputies on 25 June submitted a draft law that would deprive of their
civil rights any ethnic Hungarians in Romania who apply for "Hungarian
identity cards" in line with the provisions of Hungary's Status Law.
The PRM wants such Romanian citizens to have the status of persons
holding double citizenship and, as a consequence, be deprived of the
right to hold public or military office, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau
reported. In related news, Robert Raduly, the deputy leader of the
Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) parliamentary group
in the Chamber of Deputies, on 25 June told Viorel Hrebenciuc, the
leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) group, that the
UDMR will "withdraw" from debates on the law. He said it "might have
been an error" to defend the Status Law and the UDMR should have left
that task to "the Hungarian government and the Hungarian Embassy." MS
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 5, No. 120, Part II, 25 June 2001
SLOVAK PREMIER... SAYS HUNGARIAN STATUS LAW 'DOES NOT CONCERN
SLOVAKIA.' Speaking on the Status Law recently passed by the Hungarian
parliament, Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said, "I do not like that
law. It is an
anti-European law," CTK reported. However, he also remarked that the
law "cannot harm us." Dzurinda said the EU "has let Hungary know
clearly that the law does not fit into the union's legal norms" and
that, as a result, "in 2 1/2 years, after Slovakia joins the EU, the
law will no longer be valid" for Slovak citizens. Dzurinda rejected
the allegation that he has been "too accommodating" in face of demands
raised by the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) and emphasized that
territorial autonomy for regions inhabited by ethnic Hungarians is
"out of question." MS
HUNGARY WANTS TO 'CLEAR MISUNDERSTANDINGS' OVER STATUS LAW. Foreign
Minister Janos Martonyi, in an interview with MTI on 23 June, said
"channels remain open to defuse tensions" with neighboring Romania
over the Status Law and that Hungary will "do everything it can to
clarify misunderstandings and baseless reservations." Martonyi said he
does not wish to address Romanian threats that bilateral agreements or
the basic treaty between the two countries could be affected, because
they were not brought to Budapest's attention via official channels,
and were "simply statements [of the Romanian government] to the
media." He said the law has been "wrongly evaluated," as often is the
case with "documents of historic significance," and added that "the
prosperity and the preservation of the distinct identity of minorities
in our region serves the development of the region as a whole" and
will therefore contribute to "the development of good neighborly
relations." MS
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 5, No. 120, Part II, 25 June 2001
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT 'HOPES' AND THREATENS OVER HUNGARIAN STATUS LAW...
Ion Iliescu on 22 June told the staff of the Bucharest University's
Institute for Political Research that he "hopes" it will not be
necessary to "suspend" the basic treaty with Hungary in reaction to
the Status Law recently approved in that country, RFE/RL's Bucharest
bureau reported. Iliescu said he believes Hungary will, in the end,
take into consideration the "reservations" expressed over the law in
neighboring countries but added that if that is not the case, "we
shall, in turn, have to start a campaign similar to that launched in
Hungary, resuscitating an atmosphere that has not benefited the two
countries." Iliescu specified that he had in mind Hungarian statements
that the Status Law is aimed at undoing the consequences for the
Hungarian nation of the 1920 Trianon Treaty. MS
..WHILE THE PRM'S TUDOR THREATENS BUT DOES NOT HOPE. Greater Romania
Party (PRM) Chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor on 22 June accused the
ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) of "betrayal of national
interests" over its handling of the Status Law. Tudor said that
because of its pact with the Hungarian Democratic Federation of
Romania (UDMR), the PSD has failed to react as it should have to
Budapest "and its UDMR Trojan horse." He said the PRM is demanding the
immediate outlawing of the UDMR; the dismissal of the UDMR's five
deputy prefects; the unilateral abrogation of the basic treaty with
Hungary; the temporary closure of the border between the two
countries; and "preparing the army for a crisis situation." On 23
June, marking the 10th anniversary of the PRM's establishment, Tudor
announced that his party has formed a 15-member shadow cabinet headed
by Cluj nationalist Mayor Gheorghe Funar, which is "ready to take over
at any time if the country demands it." MS
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