MINELRES: Romania: Ethnic Minorities Briefs No. 6

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Original sender: Divers Buletin <edivers_buletin-admin@mediafax.ro>


Divers Bulletin no. 6 (89) / February 23, 2004

News

ETHNIC MINORITIES TO FACE TOUGHER PARLIAMENTARY THRESHOLD 
ULTRA-NATIONALIST POLITICIAN APOLOGIZES FOR ANTI-SEMITIC REMARKS...
... WHILE WIESENTHAL CENTER REJECTS APOLOGY 
KIEV FURTHER DISCONTENDED BY THE CONDITION OF ETHNIC UKRAINIANS IN
ROMANIA 
HARD DEPLOYMENT IN RETROCESSION OF CHURCH PROPERTIES
ACTION PLAN ON IMPROVING THE SITUATION OF ROMA IN OSCE AREA

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News

ETHNIC MINORITIES TO FACE TOUGHER PARLIAMENTARY THRESHOLD 

BUCHAREST - The ad hoc parliamentary commission tasked with drafting
legislation for the 2004 elections decided on 18 February to raise the
electoral threshold for organizations representing national minorities
to receive parliamentary representation, RFE/RL reported. 

Such organizations will be required to garner at least 20 percent of the
meridian vote to elect a deputy. In 2000, the threshold was 5 percent of
that vote. Eighteen national minorities are represented in the
parliament elected in 2000. Under the constitution, national minority
groups are entitled to have one representative in the lower house,
provided they pass a special, lower threshold than that of regular
representation. 
Only one organization may represent a national minority under those
special conditions. If two or more organizations compete for the same
slot, representation goes to the organization that receives the most
votes. The commission also decided that only organizations represented
on the National Minorities Council can run under the new conditions.
(DIVERS)


ULTRA-NATIONALIST POLITICIAN APOLOGIZES FOR ANTI-SEMITIC REMARKS...

BUCHAREST - Corneliu Vadim Tudor, One of Romania's most influential
nationalist politicians and a presidential hopeful has publicly asked
forgiveness from Jewish people for denying the Holocaust took place in
Romania, Ap reported. Corneliu Vadim Tudor made the announcement amid
international concern over rising anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern
Europe, including an extremist demonstration over the weekend in
neighboring Hungary. 
Saying the Bible had "changed his heart," the leader of the far right
Greater Romania Party asked for forgiveness from God and people who
suffered because of what he called his "terrible words" against Jews.
Mr. Tudor stressed in an open letter that he wants to repent for denying
that hundreds of thousands of Jews from Romania were killed in Nazi
concentration camps during World War II.

Romania was home to 760,000 Jews before the war, and scholars say an
estimated 420,000 were murdered. Only about 6,000 Jews live in Romania
today. The country was an ally of Nazi Germany during most of the war,
but critics say that, unlike Germany, Romania has never come to terms
with its past. 

Mr. Tudor promised never to repeat anti-Semitic statements. He also
announced a pilgrimage of party members to the site of the Auschwitz
camp in Poland this year. 

In addition Mr. Tudor pledged to introduce the study of the Holocaust in
schools if he is elected president in upcoming elections in November.
Mr. Tudor added he wants a Holocaust museum in the Romanian capital,
Bucharest, and to hire the firm that ran Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's election campaign.

But his opponents described Mr. Tudor's letter as an election stunt
aimed at boosting his popularity in the impoverished Balkan nation. Mr.
Tudor's repentance comes amid international concern over rising
anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe, including in neighboring
Hungary. On Saturday, hundreds of supporters of a far right group
gathered in Budapest to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the failed
attempt by German and Hungarian forces to break out from Buda Castle,
which was besieged by Soviet troops. The event was organized by Blood
and Honor, known for its fascist views. Several demonstrators carried
old Hungarian Arrow Cross Nazi party flags. Before the demonstration,
Hungary's Jewish community and Socialist politicians protested against
plans to erect a statue of wartime Hungarian prime minister Pal Teleki
who introduced Europe's first anti-Semitic laws in the 1930s, including
restricting university entry for Jews. Experts say the Pal Teleki
measures set the stage for the Hungarian Holocaust. 

Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky has reportedly refused to permit the
statue. Hungary is scheduled to join the European Union on May 1, with
nine other nations. The European Union has made it clear it does not
want to import nationalism and anti-Semitism when it expands
eastwards.(DIVERS)


... WHILE WIESENTHAL CENTER REJECTS APOLOGY 

JERUSALEM - The Simon Wiesenthal Center has dismissed as "totally
worthless" a "letter of apology to the Jewish people" scheduled to be
read in the Romanian Senate by Corneliu Vadim Tudor, who heads the
Greater Romania Party. 

In a statement issued in Jerusalem by the center's Israel director,
Efraim Zuroff, the center rejected the content of Tudor's letter "in
light of the ongoing efforts by his associates to deny Holocaust crimes
in Romania and besmirch the Jewish people."

In a letter published in the Romanian daily Jurnalul National, Tudor
promised to organize a pilgrimage to Auschwitz in an appeal for
forgiveness of his past statements. 

According to Zuroff, less than a month ago, after Tudor had publicly
repudiated his denial of Holocaust crimes in Romania, the paper he
edits, Romania Mare, published an article claiming that the Jews
murdered by members of the fascist Romanian Iron Guard in January 1941
were in fact Romanian nationalists murdered by Jews. 
Zuroff said: "The fact that such lies, which constitute Holocaust
denial, continue to be published in Romania Mare, are the best proof
that Tudor's declarations regarding Jewish issues are totally worthless
and are solely intended to help him gain the respectability he needs to
succeed in the coming elections." (DIVERS)


KIEV FURTHER DISCONTENDED BY THE CONDITION OF ETHNIC UKRAINIANS IN
ROMANIA 

BUCHAREST - The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Konstyantin Grishcenko,
paying an official visit in Bucharest stated on February 18 that the
members of the Romanian community in Ukraine enjoy all reights,
according to international standards. They have two Romanian-teaching
schools which are assigned State-budget funds, a Romanian- training
teacher department at the University from Cernauti, as well as
newspapers and radio programmes in Romanian language, according to
Grishcenko. 

In turn, deems the official from Kiev, the 62,000 Ukrainians from
Romania do not benefit of the same mother-language possibilities in the
culture and education sector, nor in the media. Konstyantin Grishcenko
added that the matter should be approached in compliance with the
European guidelines, applying the same rules to Ukrainians from Romania
and other countries in the area. 

In reply, the Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana pointed out that
Bucharest is facing a lot of problems induced by Ukraine to the Romanian
community �and consequently we respond them in the same manner. Our aim
is to find all Romanian citizens, irrespective of their ethnicity, to
feel fine in Romania as well and to feel protected in their basic
rights, yet we think it is much to do in Ukraine concerning the Romanian
minority�. 
The issues raised by Mircea Geoana primarily refer to Romanian
representativeness, which is not law-guaranteed, as in Romania, but also
to the gradual decrease in the number of Romanian schools. (DIVERS)


HARD DEPLOYMENT IN RETROCESSION OF CHURCH PROPERTIES

BUCHAREST � Almost a year after the date of expiry when submitting the
files about the retrocession of buildings belonging to different
churches in Romania, less than 4 per cent of them were enacted. The
retrocession of the churches is deployed relying on law 501/2002, while
the religious units submitted 7568 retrocession requests at the level of
the whole country, of which only 277 files were approved.
The representatives of the special Commission dealing with
implementation of law 501 indicate that the solving condition of the
retrocession requests is hardened by the confirming documents and that
about 5000 requests are beyond the current normative framework. 

In turn, the representatives of churches deem they enjoy no support from
the local authorities in obtaining the documents confirming the
possession as long as they are not missing. 

According to the official data, so far the Roma-Catholic (Uniate) Church
was approved 73 retrocession requests (of 992 requests submitted), the
Orthodox Church � 72 (of 770), the Reformat Church � 87 (of 899), of
Mosaic Cult � 9 (of 1809), of Evangelic Church C.A.-Germans � 8 and of
Lutheran Evangelic Church S.P.- Hungarians � 9 (of 690), Unitarian
Church � 12, Armenian Church � 2 (of the entire total of other cults
that submitted 201 requests). (DIVERS)


ACTION PLAN ON IMPROVING THE SITUATION OF ROMA IN OSCE AREA

BUCHAREST - On 12-13 February, Roma organization Romani CRISS, in
partnership with OSCE/ODIHR � Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights and the Social Democrat Roma Party organised the �Roma in
the context of the European policies� conference. 

According to a press release, the conference took place in the framework
of public policies towards Roma on the European level and aims to
present the Action Plan on Improving the Roma and Sinti Situation in the
OSCE area, adopted through Decision no. 566/ 27 November 2003, at the
478th Plenary Meeting of the OSCE. 

The objectives of the Conference considered the consulting of Roma
organisations and governmental structures regarding the implementation
process of the Action Plan in Romania; policies to combat discrimination
and improving the relationship between Roma and Police in the context of
the OSCE Action Plan; promoting partnership between inter-governmental,
governmental and Roma non-governmental structures in Romania.

The Conference had also an informative nature in regard to the recent
European initiatives on Roma and wished to start a first consultative
stage of Roma structures (Roma civic and political associations/
foundations, governmental commissions and offices for Roma) in view of
co-ordinating the activities in 2004-2005. (DIVERS)

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