MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Minority Briefs No. 70
MINELRES moderator
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Tue Sep 16 14:44:32 2003
Original sender: Divers Bulletin <[email protected]>
No. 70 / September 15, 2003
DIVERS
- reporting ethnic diversity -
SUMMARY
1. ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO FIND SOLUTION IN CASE OF LIBERTY STATUE
2. ROMANIAN NATIONALIST DEPUTIES PROPOSE DISMANTLING COVASNA COUNTY
3. ROMA PARTY CONTINUES CO-OPERATION WITH PSD
4. ROMA GEOS ESTABLISHED COMMON STRUCTURE
5. MOLDOVAN GRADUATES CLAIM SCHOLARSHIPS IN ROMANIAN INSTITUTIONS
FEATURE
6. ROMANIA'S ROYAL BATTLE HOSTS UP
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ROMANIA, HUNGARY TO FIND SOLUTION IN CASE OF LIBERTY STATUE
BUCHAREST/BUDAPEST - Ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD)
Secretary-General Dan Matei Agathon said on 9 September that the joint
commission that monitors the cooperation agreement between the PSD and
the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) will try to find a
solution to the conflict over the Hungarian Liberty Monument, RFE/RL
reported. Agathon said historians and members of the Romanian Academy
will accompany the commission. Last month, a Culture Ministry commission
ruled against re-erecting the recently restored monument, and municipal
inspectors in Arad last week said irregularities have been discovered in
the reconstruction project. UDMR Chairman Bela Marko said that he has
discussed the issue with Premier Nastase, who acknowledged that there is
opposition to the project within his party. Marko said Nastase proposed
that a new monument representing both Romanian and Hungarian
participants in the 1848 revolution be commissioned in place of the
Liberty Statue. He added that the UDMR insists that the agreement
reached earlier between the two parties to re-erect the original
monument be respected. Furthermore Hungary is ready to take the
necessary measures if the situation surrounding the Liberty Statue is
not find soon, Hungarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tamas Toth said on
September 8."The Hungarian Foreign Ministry is monitoring the
situation," Toth told MTI. The issue is expected to be raised during
talks to be held by Romanian President Ion Iliescu in Budapest on
September 15-16 and by Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy in Bucharest on
September 23. The memorial to the martyred generals of the 1848-49
Hungarian war of independence executed in Arad is planned to be set up
on October 5.
summary
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ROMANIAN NATIONALIST DEPUTIES PROPOSE DISMANTLING COVASNA COUNTY
BUCHAREST - A group of nine deputies from the Greater Romanian Party and
one Social Democratic Party lawmaker submitted on 8 September a draft
law that would dismantle Covasna County, RFE/RL reported. The draft also
envisages reorganizing Harghita, Alba, Brasov, Mures, and Sibiu
counties, to ensure they all have an ethnic Romanian majority. In
Covasna and Harghita, Hungarians are currently in the majority. The
deputies say their aim is to bring about "concrete measures for a more
emphatic Romanian presence" in these Transylvanian counties. They
propose that Covasna County be merged with Brasov County, that its name
be changed into Giurgeu-Ciuc County, and that the town of Toplita Romana
serve as the county's capital. According to the same project, several
towns in Mures County are to be transferred to the jurisdiction of Alba
County. Deputy Stefan Tcaciuc, who represents in parliament the
Ukrainian minority, also backs the project.
summary
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ROMA PARTY CONTINUES CO-OPERATION WITH PSD
BUCHAREST � President of Social Democrat Roma Party (PRSD), deputy
Nicolae Paun, pointed out on Saturday, September 6, that inking new
co-operation protocol with PSD is a matter of days, as the negotiations
carried out to review the strategy in improving Roma condition are part
in the plan. The main goals of PRSD refer to increasing the budget to
implement this strategy, as well as to more active involvement of the
local authorities in Roma matters and in Roma communities. Nicolae Paun
said that the old protocol has not been well implemented because not all
PSD members observed it, in this respect mentioning about the Town Hall
of Sector 5, where "Roma condition is critical ". In his turn, PSD
deputy Madalin Voicu said that if this protocol is signed and abided by,
Roma people will also get integrated in Europe in 2010. (DIVERS)
summary
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ROMA GEOS ESTABLISHED COMMON STRUCTURE
BUCHAREST � Representatives of 64 Roma GEOs gathered at end-last week
and decided establishing �Forum of Non-governmental Roma Organizations
2003� (FOR 2003), a nationally representative structure, of juridical
personality. Deputy Nicolae Paun, president of Social Democrat Roma
Party (PRSD), the initiator of the project, states that the purpose of
the forum lies in setting up national Roma representative structure,
operating as a real GEO, for programmes aiming to Roma education,
liquidation of illiteracy and emancipation, as well as to real census.
By analyzing the activity of Roma GEOs, over 12 years of presence, we
drew the conclusion that the money coming in Romania through PHARE
programmes for various projects, was badly managed, because the
programmes in question had no tangible results. Therefore, FOR 2003 will
also deal with the centralization and monitoring activities of the money
invested in various European institutions for the Roma people in
Romania�, said Nicolae Paun. �FOR 2003� is run by a commission made up
of 13 representatives of various GEOs, which has six months mandate,
then the ruling is assured by turns. (DIVERS)
summary
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MOLDOVAN GRADUATES CLAIM SCHOLARSHIPS IN ROMANIAN INSTITUTIONS
CHISINAU- About 1,250 graduates from Moldovan high schools and
universities have applied for studies in Romanian institutions of higher
learning in the 2003-04 academic year, Basa-Press reported. Romanian
education officials from the Iasi-based University Al.I.Cuza said that
each of the 625 scholarships offered by Romania - 475 for higher
learning and 150 for post-graduate studies - is claimed by three
Moldovan candidates. At least 270 Moldovan applicants have chosen the
University Al.I.Cuza, which is nearest to Moldova and is located in the
second largest city of Romania. Most seek to study economics, law and
medical sciences. Romania has also offered 525 long and short-term
scholarships for university studies to Moldovans who have graduated from
Romanian high schools in 2003, and 800 seats in high schools to youths
who have graduated from Moldovan high schools. The results of admission
will be made public by September 18 for university studies and by
September 29 for post-graduate studies. As Moldova's Education Ministry
had turned down the renewal of an agreement of cooperation in academic
and educational field with Romania last year, the Education and Research
Ministry in Bucharest organized the admission of Moldovan students in
three Romanian university centers in 2002 and 2003. Until last year,
admission for Romania was held in Chisinau.
summary
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FEATURE
ROMANIA'S ROYAL BATTLE HOSTS UP
By Dina Kyriakidou (Reuters)
COSTESTI - An emperor and two kings have locked horns at Romania's
annual Roma gathering on September 8, guarded by scores of riot police
to prevent violence between supporters of the regal contenders.
Loudspeakers blasted slogans and fans waved flags in the hills near the
Carpathian village of Costesti, site of the annual gathering of
Romania's Roma (Gypsy) minority, estimated at between 500,000 and three
million people. "I am the international king and you will see that I
will meet Pope John Paul, King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen
Elisabeth," Ilie Stanescu, crowned King of All Roma at Romania's
princely monastery of Curtea de Arges last month, told a throng of fans
on Monday.
But for many he is a usurper, trying to take over from the rightful
king, Florin Cioaba, son of the late and very respected king Ion. "It's
not a pleasant situation," said Cioaba, surrounded by police officials
urging him to avoid violence. "Roma people are not interested in royal
disputes, all they care about is their poverty." His press officer, Dana
Chendea, explained that Roma kings, unlike their western European
equivalents who have largely ceremonial roles, are expected to settle
disputes, resolve complaints and keep fellow Roma out of trouble. Their
rulings cannot be disputed. "Threats have been made against him and his
supporters," she told reporters to explain the large police presence
around his tent.
A representative of the Federation of Roma Organisations, based in
Vienna, said the row showed Roma confusion in a modern society. "It's an
identity crisis," said Vasile Ionescu. "People are starting to call
themselves kings and emperors with no legitimacy."
Slaves for centuries
Romania's Roma have had a hard lot since migrating to the Balkans from
India in the early Middle Ages. Kept as slaves for centuries, they faced
extermination during Romania's World War Two alliance with Nazi Germany
and forced assimilation under communism. Granted minority status only in
1990, a year after the fall of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu,
they remain on the fringes of Romanian society, with little or no
education or jobs among the Balkan country's largely impoverished 22
million population. Every September 8, on the Virgin Mary's birthday,
thousands of the wealthier ones come to Costesti dressed in colorful
clothes and lots of gold to find mates for their children -- usually in
their early teens -- and celebrate. Shiny black Mercedes cars and
horse-drawn carts line the mountain slopes, tables are filled with whole
roasted pigs decorated with fruit and flowers and merchants sell
everything from used clothes to plastic toys. Intended to impress and
attract the best possible spouses for offspring, Roma elite pitch huge,
richly decorated tents. Emperor Iulian Radulescu has the biggest. A
cousin of the late king Ion, he designated himself emperor but did not
dare challenge his nephew directly until last month, when he threw his
backing behind Stanescu. "There is only one king. I dethroned the other
one because he wanted to be king without my permission," the rotund
Iulian said.
Despite the adoring crowds that gathered at both kings' tents to shout
slogans and offer flowers, many others at the gathering appeared
indifferent.
"We don't care. We don't have a king, we do as we please," said Mihai, a
young father of three.
summary
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