MINELRES: RFE/RL on minority issues

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 175, Part II, 15 September 2003 

ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS MEET IN BUDAPEST. Speaker Katalin
Szili on 12 September opened in the Hungarian parliament the
first-ever conference in Budapest of ethnic Hungarian parliamentary
members from neighboring countries, Budapest dailies reported. Many
of the visiting politicians stressed in their addresses at the
conference that while it is desirable to strengthen by means of the
institution of dual citizenship the bonds that connect ethnic
Hungarians, such a move might encourage the undesired process of
resettlement in the mother country. Several of them also pointed out
that the EU rejects the institution of citizenship based solely on
ethnicity. MSZ

CONFLICTING REPORTS ON SERBIA'S POSITION TOWARD DUAL CITIZENSHIP.
Serbia and Montenegro's Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandra Joksimovic
said on 13 September that Belgrade is not opposed to dual citizenship
being granted to ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina, Hungarian radio
reported. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic made a similar
statement in June during a visit by Hungarian Prime Minister Peter
Medgyessy to Subotica. Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs,
however, told reporters on 12 September that Belgrade has sent
official notice that Serbia and Montenegro will not accept dual
citizenship based on ethnicity, "Nepszabadsag" reported on 13
September. MSZ


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 178, Part II, 18 September 2003 

ROMANIA LAUNCHES PROGRAM TO EDUCATE YOUTH ABOUT HOLOCAUST. At a
ceremony in Bucharest on 17 September introducing a manual for
teaching high-school students about the Holocaust, Culture and
Religious Affairs Minister Razvan Theodorescu said that "Romania
participated in the Holocaust and we have to face history," Reuters
reported. Theodorescu also said that "the barbarism of the Holocaust
was unique in history and should not be repeated." His statement
contradicts a subsequently retracted statement made on 25 July by
Romanian President Ion Iliescu and Theodorescu's own previous attempt
to present the Holocaust as "not having been perpetrated on Romanian
territory" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 and 17 June and 28 July 2003).
Observers expressed dismay that at the ceremony, which was organized
by the Wilhelm Filderman Foundation, Premier Nastase, Theodorescu,
and Patriarch Teoctist -- a member of the Iron Guard in his youth
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 January 2001) -- were honored with
distinctions by the Jewish foundation for supporting "the integration
of Romanian Jews in Romania's history and in its present." MS

MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT SAYS GAGAUZ-YERI TO BE FEDERATION SUBJECT.
President Voronin said at a meeting with Gagauz-Yeri Popular Assembly
deputies on 17 September that the autonomous region should be the
third subject of the envisaged federation, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau
reported. Voronin said that "an asymmetric federation suits best
Moldova's needs," and added that the autonomous region's separate
status already figures in the current Moldovan Constitution. Tiraspol
is rejecting the "asymmetric model" and wants the envisaged
federation to be based on two equal subjects. It was announced in
Chisinau on 17 September that members of the joint
Moldovan-Transdniester commission tasked with drafting the federal
constitution have concluded negotiations on the basic document's
first section. The OSCE and the Venice Commission are to be consulted
on some issues in line with an agreement reached when the joint
commission was set up. Meanwhile, separatist leader Igor Smirnov said
in Tiraspol that Transdniester will never be the side that breaks the
negotiations off. "Otherwise we will lose forever our current
position as an equal-right partner in the dialogue with the Republic
of Moldova," Infotag quoted him as saying. MS



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