MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Diversity Breifs, No.9

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Mediafax <divers@mediafax.ro>

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No. 9/ May 27, 2002

DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -


SUMMARY
1. SYNAGOGUE VANDALIZED IN ROMANIA
2. ROMANIA CONTINUES TO REJECT RENEGOTIATING THE STATUS LAW
3. ROMANIAN AUTHORITIES TO SUE NATIONALIST MAYOR
4. ROMANIA'S MONITORING ENDS
5. ETHNIC ROMANIANS IN SERBIA ASK FOR EDUCATION IN THEIR MOTHER TONGUE
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SYNAGOGUE VANDALIZED IN ROMANIA
SUCEAVA - A synagogue in Falticeni (northern Romania) has been
desecrated and some religious items have been stolen, according to
reports of local press. Some anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi inscriptions
were also written on the 19th century building walls by unidentified
persons.
Local police officials said the perpetrators entered the unguarded
synagogue by breaking a window and wrote inscriptions such as: "Death
and Gassing for the Jews"; 'Heil Hitler". They were signed by an
unknown organization self-called "The Front of Anti-Semitic Struggle".
The Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania (FCER) in a public
statement asked Romanian authorities to find the vandals and try to
stop any anti-Semitic acts.
The synagogue is on a list of 10 national Jewish monuments to be
restored by the Romanian government in the near future.
When the synagogue was built in 1862, the Jews made up more than half
of the population of Falticeni. After World War II, most Jews
emigrated to Israel and Western countries. Only around 50 Jews, mostly
elderly people, still live in the town. Some 14,000 Jews live in
Romania now, compared to 800,000 before World War II. Thousands
members of the Jewish community perished in death camps, many others
emigrated after the WWII, mostly to Israel. The Romanian government
has recently passed legislation imposing stiff prison sentences to
punish anti-Semitic acts and pro-Nazi propaganda. (DIVERS)

ROMANIA CONTINUES TO REJECT RENEGOTIATING THE STATUS LAW
BUDAPEST - Romanian Ambassador to Hungary Calin Fabian said Bucharest
does not want to amend the memorandum of understanding signed last
December on the implementation of the Hungarian Status Law.
In an interview last week, the diplomat said Hungarian-Romanian
relations could become tense if the ongoing Hungarian government were
to insist on re-negotiating or suspending the memorandum. The Romanian
ambassador said he believes it would be premature to speak about
probable counter-steps by Bucharest until the official position of the
Hungarian government is known.
Fabian also said figures show that the fears of the ruling Hungarian
Socialist Party about the mass flood of Romanian workers to Hungary
are unfounded.
In other news, the governing Party of Social Democracy of Romania
(PSD) and the Hungarian Socialist Party (HSP), a member of Hungary's
next governing coalition, late last week have resumed talks in
Budapest on signing an inter-party cooperation agreement. The two
delegations also exchanged views on the Hungarian-Romanian memorandum
of understanding. The PSD and HSP leaders agreed on the main points of
the cooperation agreement previously but suspended their talks early
this year for the period of the Hungarian election campaign. The HSP's
electoral victory was seen in Bucharest as giving a fresh impetus to
the development of relations between the two parties.
However, some Romanian politicians voiced serious reservations about
the fact that the HSP leaders declared several times both during the
election campaign and after the elections that they consider it
necessary to review the memorandum. (DIVERS)

ROMANIAN AUTHORITIES TO SUE NATIONALIST MAYOR
CLUJ-NAPOCA - The local police in Transylvanian city of Cluj Napoca
last week launched a judicial suit against Mayor Gheorghe Funar,
accusing him for "offending national symbols". Funar has ordered all
public waste bins in Cluj to be painted in the national colors of red,
yellow, and blue.
Funar has long been known for his eccentric ideas and anti-Hungarian
rhetoric. Last year he ordered the sidewalks on some of the main roads
to be decorated in Romania's national colors, after previously having
roadside poles, traffic lights, and benches painted in the same
palette. (DIVERS)

ROMANIA'S MONITORING ENDS
BUCHAREST - After five years of continuous dialogue, Romania's
post-monitoring process has been halted, following a unanimous
decision of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe's
Parliamentary Assembly last week. Andras Barsony, President of the
Committee, said Romania met the European democracy standards, however
the country's democratization process was in progress and there was
still much to be done. But from now on, the Committee will only
inspect the situation in Romania if it is notified to do so, added
Barsony. After the meeting in Bucharest, the European official also
said the Romanian authorities offered guarantees that solutions would
be found for the retrocession of confiscated properties and for the
abandoned children.
Romania joined the Council of Europe in 1993. The post-monitoring
period started in 1997, as soon as the Council of Europe decided that
Romania needed no longer direct monitoring in the fields of for
democracy and human rights. (DIVERS)

ETHNIC ROMANIANS IN SERBIA ASK FOR EDUCATION IN THEIR MOTHER TONGUE
BELGRADE - Four organizations of ethnic Romanians (Vlachs) in Serbia
last week signed common declaration asking for the right to study
their mother tongue in the elementary schools and to use it publicly
and within religious services.
"Vlahs, considering themselves as Romanians, also request for the Serb
government to participate to the projects pursued to develop cultural
traditions of our population", reads also the statement. In Serbia,
within the area enhancing land part between the Danube and Morava and
Timoc rivers, there exists a Romanian population. The associations of
Romanians in this area appreciate that the number of their community
reaches almost 500,000 persons. So far this population has been
considered by the Serb authorities as an "ethnic group", without
holding mother-country, such it is the case of Roma people and,
consequently, they had no right to speak in their mother language, no
right for own school, particular religious service, press or cultural
institutions. (DIVERS)

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