According to a press release issued after the January 26 parliamentary session, ethnic Hungarian deputy prefects will be appointed to four counties with significant ethnic Hungarian populations, namely Harghita/Hargita (Zoltán Dézsi József), Maramures/Maros (Árpád Burkhardt), Satu Mare/Szatmár (Rudolf Riedl) and Salaj/Szilágy (Tibor Csóka) Counties. An ethnic Hungarian deputy prefect is still to be appointed to Covasna/Kovászna County. Assignment of ethnic Hungarian deputy prefects was one of the obligations assumed by the governing Rumanian Social Democratic Party in its December 2000 agreement with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania [see report of December 27, 2000]. [MTI - Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Budapest), Jan. 26, 2001 ]

Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania official Attila Markó has been appointed Deputy State Secretary to the Office for Inter-Ethnic Relations. The office functions in the framework of the Publicity Ministry. Under the previous government, a higher-ranking Office for Protection of Minorities headed by Minister Péter Eckstein-Kovács functioned in this capacity. Attila Markó will be in charge of issues related to national minorities, except the Roma population; the specific problems of the Roma will be dealt with by an other Deputy State Secretary, Gheorghe Ivan. Minister Vasile Dancu has not yet appointed the State Secretary to head the new office. [Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 24, 2001]

Rumanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase reported on the on Public Administration Bill recently adopted by the Chamber of Deputies [see report of January 18] in his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In an interview with the Hungarian press in Strasbourg, Nastase stated that “the law applies even to Gheorghe Funar, Mayor of Cluj.” Ultra-nationalist Mayor Funar has declared that the law, which would provide native language rights to minorities in localities where the proportion of the given minority exceeds 20 percent of the population, would by no means be implemented in Cluj/Kolozsvár [see report of January 16]. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 25, 2001]

In an interview with the Hungarian-language daily, Szabadság, Sándor Tonk, Chairman of the Sapientia Foundation in charge with the establishing the Hungarian University in Transylvania, expressed his hope that the university would open in September of this year. Members of the National Committee for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEAA) visited the Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda division of the future institution [see report of January 11]; the next meeting of the committee will be held on January 26. The Hungarian-language Partium Christian University in Oradea/Nagyvárad has also applied for authorization to open new faculties. After finishing the accreditation process, the two institutions will merge and function as one single private university, stated Tonk. According to law, the final accreditation of the university could take as long as seven years. The Sapientia Foundation received 2 billion HUF (approx. $7.2 million) from the Hungarian Government last year and has spent most of the funds to buy buildings and assist the Partium Christian University. The foundation has already launched two programs supporting doctoral candidates and young researchers. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 19, 2001; Magyar Nemzet (Budapest), Jan. 19, 2001]

By 211 votes and 1 abstention, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the Bill on Public Administration allowing for minority language use in public administration. The law would grant local councils the right to decide on street names and names of public institutions, and provide that citizens can use their native language in contact with authorities in settlements where the proportion of an ethnic minority exceeds a 20 percent threshold. Bilingual street- and place name signs must also be displayed, and official communiqués must be posted in minority languages as well. Owing to the fact that the bill does not correspond completely to the version formerly adopted by the Senate, it will go to a conference committee. Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania President Béla Markó described the law as being the most important triumph for ethnic minorities in Rumania in the past 10 years along with the educational law amended in 1999. Nationalist Greater Rumania Party (GRP) deputies walked out during the final vote and declared that the GRP would file an appeal with the Constitutional Court. According to Gheorghe Funar, Secretary-General of the GRP and Mayor of Cluj/Kolozsvár, the law on Public Administration would make “Hungarian the official language in Cluj.” In a press communiqué he announced a public demonstration against the law on January 24. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 18, 2001 and MTI - Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Budapest), Jan. 18, 2001]

By a vote of 222:73 with 1 abstention, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the Bill on Restitution of Private Property Confiscated between 1945 and 1989. The bill, which only applies to Rumanian citizens, provides that buildings currently occupied by public institutions will not be restituted, but former owners can apply for compensation payable in stock certificates of public companies or public securities specially issued by the Ministry of Finance. The bill does not regulate the problem of confiscated communal and church properties—an issue vital to the Hungarian minority—in these cases relevant legislation still has to be enacted. Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania Deputy László Borbély pointed out that the bill has its deficiencies, but “it provides an opportunity for more than 80 percent of the owners to get their properties back.” Greater Rumania Party deputies voted against the bill and proclaimed their intention to lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Court. [Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 16, 2001 and MTI - Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Budapest), Jan. 16, 2001]

The Chamber of Deputies adopted the paragraph of the Bill on Public Administration obligating local authorities to display bilingual place name signs and to employ translators in administrative offices in settlements where minorities make up more than 20 percent of the population. Final voting on the bill is likely to take place during the January 18 session. Extreme nationalist Mayor of Cluj/Kolozsvár, Gheorghe Funar, declared that he will not enforce the law even if criminal charges are filed against him. According to his statement, data from the 1992 national census concerning the proportion of ethnic Hungarian inhabitants in the city [22.7 percent] was fabricated and the real number does not reach 10 percent. [Szabadság (Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár), Jan. 16 and 17, 2001]

According to a document published by the Rumanian-language daily, Evenimentul Zilei, Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist, 86, was a member of the Legionary Movement and played a major role in setting a Bucharest synagogue on fire during the Legionaire Revolt in 1941. The document written in 1950 was discovered by historian Dorin Dobrescu in the archives of the Securitate, the Rumanian secret police. The Legionary Movement was founded in 1927 by Rumanian fascist agitator Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and was based on anti-Semitism, Orthodoxy and mystical nationalism. The Legionary Movement and its militant subdivision, the Iron Guard, cooperated with Nazis in persecuting Jews. [Evenimentul Zilei (Bucharest), Jan. 15, 2001]

According to recently publicized plans, Minister of Education Ecaterina Andronescu will not eliminate the division in the Ministry charged with national minorities [see reports of January 6 and 9]. The new official name of the Ministry will be “Ministry of Education and Research” and it will have three State Secretariats: one for Research and Relations with the Parliament; one for Higher Education and European Integration and one for Public Education. The latest will include the division responsible for national minorities, which is likely to be headed by László Murvai, who occupied the post under the prior government coalition. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 13, 2001]

In an interview with the Hungarian-language Népújság, Attila Gáspárik, member of the Rumanian Audiovisual Council, said that the agreement signed by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania (DAHR) and the Rumanian Social Democratic Party [see report of December 27, 2000] stipulates increasing the broadcast time of Hungarian-language programs in the Rumanian media. Accordingly, Hungarian-language programs on radio stations in Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely, Cluj/Kolozsvár, Timisoara/Temesvár and Bucharest would have 12 hours of continuous broadcast time daily on the same frequency. A plan prepared by experts under the guidance of Gyula Szép will be submitted to the directorate of Rumanian Radio. There is a similar concept regarding Hungarian-language regional television programs to be broadcast on Rumanian Television 's Channel 2 currently under negotiation by DAHR and the government. [Népújság (Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely), Jan. 10, 2001, Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 13, 2001]

According to Ioan Mihailescu, President of the National Committee for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEAA), the Hungarian-language private university will be authorized only if the language of instruction in at least one section is Rumanian. Mihailescu pointed out that the Law on Accreditation states that at least one Rumanian-language section is mandatory for every institution of higher education. Sándor Tonk, head of the Sapientia Foundation entrusted with preparing the groundwork for the university, commented that this is a misinterpretation of the law, which in fact requires a compulsory Rumanian-language section only in those cases were existing universities are merged or divided. The misunderstanding jeopardizes the opening of the university planned for this academic year [see report of January 9]. [MTI - Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Budapest), Jan. 12, 2001]

Mayor of Cluj/Kolozsvár, Gheorghe Funar, does not support the initiative of ethnic Hungarian Deputy Mayor, János Boros, to establish an office for ethnic minorities within the framework of the Mayor’s Office. According to the plans, the envisioned office would have three employees, each of them belonging to one of the three major minority communities living in Cluj/Kolozsvár – the Hungarian, the Roma and the Jewish. Mayor Funar declared that the proposal was “unconstitutional and illegal,” reported a Rumanian-language local daily Monitorul de Cluj. The initiative stems from a meeting Deputy Mayor Boros had with representatives of the local Roma population on January 11. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 11, 2001 and Monitorul de Cluj (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 12, 2001]

Five perpetrators who stole the Hungarian Maltese Charity president's money and papers in Oradea/Nagyvárad on January 7 were identified and detained by the police. Before being attacked at Hungarian-Rumanian border [see report of January 8], Rev Kozma reported to the local police that his bag containing a large amount of money and his diplomatic passport had been stolen from the Roman-Catholic Bishopric in Oradea. His papers were subsequently found on the street by a civilian guard patrol with theft being the likely motive. [Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 12, 2001]

Members of the National Committee for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation visited the Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda division of the future Hungarian University of Transylvania [see report of January 9]. The two supervisors – Ion Diaconescu, Deputy Dean at the Academy of Economics in Bucharest, and Zeitz Dumitru, Professor at the University of Economics in Iasi – held talks with representatives of the Sapientia Foundation entrusted with laying the groundwork for the Hungarian-language private university. The economic situation and infrastructure of the future university were the main agenda items. [Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 11, 2001]

Sándor Tonk, head of the Sapientia Foundation entrusted with establishing a Hungarian-language private university in Transylvania, pointed out that if the National Committee for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEAA) authorizes the institution, it could open by the next academic year. Since request for authorization was submitted in June 2000, the foundation initially planned to launch instruction in September, last year. The CNEAA will inspect the Miercurea-Ciuc/Csíkszereda division of the university on January 10. [Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 9, 2001]

A doubling in the divisions of the Ministry of Education for a total of 12, including one charged with issues related to national minorities [see report of January 6], is planned. Retaining this section in the Ministry of Education was one of the assurances given by the ruling Rumanian Social Democratic Party in the agreement signed with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania on December 27, 2000 [see report of December 27, 2000]. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 9, 2001]

January 8, 2001

24 bills will be discussed by the Chamber of Deputies and 4 bills by the Senate in course of a 10-day special session called by the Rumanian Parliament. The Bill on Private Property Restitution and the Bill on Public Administration are on the agenda. Both bills are of vital interest to the Hungarian community in Rumania since the former mostly concerns buildings confiscated from minorities during the communist regime while the latter would provide the use of native language in public administration in those localities where an ethnic minority exceeds 20 percent of the population. The adoption of the two bills was included in the reciprocal agreement concluded by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania and the ruling Rumanian Social Democratic Party on December 27 of last year [see report of December 27, 2000]. The nationalist Greater Rumania Party objected to placing the two bills on the agenda saying that a lot of newly-elected deputies were not sufficiently familiar with their contents. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 8, 2001 and MTI–Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Budapest), Jan. 8, 2001]

Rev. Imre Kozma, President of the Hungarian Maltese Charity, was attacked on the Rumanian side of the border crossing at Bors. Father Kozma told the press that his suitcase, containing money and a diplomatic passport, was previously stolen in Oradea/Nagyvárad. While waiting at the border to return to Hungary, an unknown person jumped from a jeep, dragged the priest from his car and hit him several times shouting, among others, “Malta out!” in Rumanian. Rumanian border guards watched on without intervening and the assailant was not apprehended. Father Kozma did not file criminal charges. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 8, 2001]

Newly appointed Minister of Education Ecaterina Adronescu is planning to reorganize the administrative structure of the Ministry. “There was a risk that the division responsible for minorities would be closed down during the course of future reorganization, but hopefully this will not be possible because of the agreement between the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania and the ruling Rumanian Social Democratic Party [see report of December 27, 2000],” disclosed the outgoing ethnic Hungarian Director General, László Murvai. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 6, 2001]

According to an agreement signed by the governing Rumanian Social Democratic Party (RSDP) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania (DAHR) [see report of December 27, 2000], ethnic Hungarian deputy prefects would be appointed to five counties with significant Hungarian minority populations, pointed out DAHR President Béla Markó in an interview with the Hungarian-language daily, Krónika. DAHR will also be entrusted to delegate a representative to the Office for the Protection of Minorities in the capacity of deputy under-secretary of state. [Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), Jan. 5, 2001]