MINELRES: Ethnic Minority Briefs No. 65

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Original sender: Divers Bulletin <edivers_buletin@mediafax.ro>


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No. 65 / July 28, 2003

DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -

THE NEXT ISSUE WILL BE RELEASED ON AUGUST 18th

SUMMARY
1. ROMANIA AND HUNGARY AGREED ON CHANGING FACILITIES LAW
2. PSD AND UDMR BIHOR SIGNED PROTOCOL OF ELECTORAL COOPERATION
3. ROMANIAN SCHOOLS TO MARK HOLOCAUST DAY?
4. CROSS-BORDER ROMANIANS ASK FOR THE GOVERNMENT�S SUPPORT
5. HUNGARIAN POLITICIANS SPAR OVER STATUS LAW COMPROMISE

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ROMANIA AND HUNGARY AGREED ON CHANGING FACILITIES LAW
BUCHAREST � Romania�s and Hungary�s Premiers agreed with an agreement on
implementing the facilities Law, through which the pattern of Magyar
certificate is to be changed and there will be eliminated other
provisions considered not in accordance with the European norms. "The
form of the certificate will be changed in accordance with the European
Commission. In time, the certificates will be replaced by the new ones",
stated on Thursday July 18 the Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana,
after holding the negotiations with his Magyar counterpart, Laszlo
Kovacs, paying a visit in Bucharest. As says the MAE spokesperson,
Cosmin Dobran, the agreement refers to a European Commission�s document
dating from December 2002, which stipulates that all the elements
possibly suggesting a political connection between Budapest and Magyar
minorities should be removed from Magyar IDs. Romanian diplomatic
sources say that the document sent to Budapest suggests removing from
Magyar IDs the "symbolic " elements, as well as the crown of Saint
Stefan or some texts of historical commemoration, which could settle a
political connection with the Magyar minorities. The agreement with
Romania also stipulates the use of certificates exclusively on Hungary�s
territory, state the quoted sources. Hungary sent the Romanian party its
intention to change the pattern of IDs starting next year, yet this was
not stipulated in any official document. Another provision of the
implementation agreement mentions that the support for the pupils,
students and teachers of Magyar ethnicity will be granted to the
education institutions, but not to the associations or individually,
stated Geoana. Laszlo Kovacs underlined that the new law, which replaces
the Status Law, no longer consists of elements different from EU
guidelines, yet an implementation agreement was necessary in order to
eliminate any suspicion in this respect. (DIVERS)

PSD AND UDMR BIHOR SIGNED PROTOCOL OF ELECTORAL COOPERATION
ORADEA - The PSD and UDMR leaders from Bihor on Wednesday July 23
signed, for the first time nationally, a protocol of electoral
cooperation with tangible references to the cooperation way deployed by
the two parties in the next year�s local elections. By signing the
protocol, consisting of 16 points, the two parties pledged not to lead
mutual attack during the electoral campaign and to back the candidate
with best chances of success in Bihor communals and towns. The last
point mainly refers to localities where the population of Magyar
nationality represents more than half of the electors. (DIVERS)

ROMANIAN SCHOOLS TO MARK HOLOCAUST DAY?
BUCHAREST - David Peleg, deputy director-general of the Israeli Foreign
Ministry, told journalists in Bucharest at the end of a two-day visit to
Romania that the authorities informed the delegation of its intention to
annually mark the Holocaust in Romanian schools, Radio Free Europe
reported. A date for the day of remembrance has yet to be established.
Peleg said the Romanian authorities acknowledge that they made a mistake
when they claimed that no part of the Holocaust was carried out on
Romanian territory. For the first time in Romania, an individual was
sentenced on 16 July on charges of Holocaust denial under the provisions
of last year's governmental ordinance No. 31. Grigore Oprita was
sentenced in Brasov to 2 1/2 years' imprisonment for disseminating
nationalist-chauvinist propaganda and a similar sentence for
manufacturing, selling, and possessing fascist, racist, and xenophobic
symbols. Oprita is the author of books and articles praising the Iron
Guard. (DIVERS)

CROSS-BORDER ROMANIANS ASK FOR THE GOVERNMENT�S SUPPORT
IZVORUL MURESULUI � The representatives of cross-border Romanian
communities, present at Summer University from Izvorul Muresului, asked
for the Government�s support help them keep their mother language and
cultural identity, many of them stating their communities are in danger
to disappear in ten years. They stated they are loyal citizens to the
State they live in, but they expect for the same loyalty also from the
State in question, according to Mediafax. "We are in the last leap and
we will be gone, while population from Danube south has no blame for it.
The guilt for not speaking in mother language, for not having culture is
held both by us, by the Bulgarian State, as well as by the Romanian
State", stated Ivo Gheorghiev, chairman of Romanian -ethnic youth from
Bulgaria. The meeting was attended by representatives of Romanians from
Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova etc. (DIVERS)

HUNGARIAN POLITICIANS SPAR OVER STATUS LAW COMPROMISE
BUDAPEST � Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs on 21 July described the past
12 months as a year of eliminating damage to bilateral relations done by
the previous government, Radio Free Europe media reported. Kovacs said
the current two-party, center left coalition has carried out intensive
consultations with Hungary's neighbors and amended the Status Law while
"protecting the interests of ethnic Hungarians in a way acceptable to
both Hungary's neighbors and the EU" during that period. Kovacs said
that during his talks last week in Bucharest and Bratislava on the
Status Law, Hungary "persuaded rather than defeated" its Romanian and
Slovak negotiating partners. The opposition FIDESZ party's chairman of
the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Zsolt Nemeth, called the
agreements reached by Kovacs in the two capitals an "unprincipled
compromise." In a statement issued on 21 July, Nemeth said the
government has written off ethnic Hungarians abroad and exposed them "to
the aspirations of Romanian and Slovak anti-minority forces." He also
complained about the agreed removal of the St. Stephen's crown symbol
from Hungarian identification certificates.
In related news, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and European
Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen said at a diplomatic
forum in Budapest on 22 July that the amended version of the Hungarian
Status Law is in line with EU norms, Hungarian media and international
news agencies reported. According toP, Verheugen congratulated the
Hungarian government on the amendment. Hungarian Foreign Minister Kovacs
reiterated Hungary's wish to participate in the EU's accession
negotiations with Bulgaria and Romania. (DIVERS)

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