The National Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEAA), the body authorized to permit operation of higher educational institutions, refused to give the campus of the private Hungarian University in Targu Mures/Marosvásárhely permission to operate. The Sapientia Foundation, the organization in charge of the establishment of the university, submitted requests to the CNEAA on introducing three subjects: Computer Science and Information Technology, Mechanics and Social Pedagogy. On behalf of CNEAA, a 2-member delegation conducted an on-site inspection of the campus on May 3, but refused to disclose any details of its findings. Sapientia President Sándor Tonk said that the necessary building, including a high-tech computer room, is available and a qualified faculty is ready to launch instruction. Yet, CNEAA denied the permission, citing the opinion of its Legal Subcommittee, which found minor shortcomings in the application submission. The Sapientia Foundation has lodged an appeal against the decision. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), May 30, 2001]

The Law on Public Administration, granting native language rights to ethnic minorities in localities where the proportion of the given minority exceeds 20 percent of the population [see report of January 18], came into force today. The law stipulates that bilingual street- and place name signs can be displayed and that native language can be used in contact with authorities, both orally and in writing. According to the 1992 national census data, a total of 1,342 settlements throughout Rumania will be affected, including 1,062 relating to the Hungarian minority. Native-language use will be permissible during meetings of the local council in the case of 308 settlements where the number of councilors belonging to a given minority exceeds one-third. In his May 22 visit to Cluj/Kolozsvár, Ionel Floresiu, Public Administration State Secretary, pointed out that the law complies with international agreements signed by Rumania, including the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Ultra-nationalist Mayor of Cluj Gheorghe Funar told the press that he would obstruct enforcement of the law in Cluj, a city 22.7 percent Hungarian populated. Funar claims that the census data is fabricated and the accurate number is 11 percent. [Romániai Magyar Szó (Bucharest), May 19, 21 and 23, 2001 and MTI – Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Budapest), May 22, 2001]

At its meeting in Istanbul, the Standing Committee of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on the protection of Csángó minority culture in Rumania, which was submitted by Finnish committee member Tytti Isohookana-Asunmaa [see report of April 26]. The resolution calls on the Rumanian government to support the Csángó minority in preserving its national identity by ensuring native-language education and introducing Roman Catholic religious services in Hungarian in Csángó-inhabited villages. The Csángós are a culturally distinct, centuries-old ethnic Hungarian community numbering about 250,000 and living in the northeastern part of Rumania. [Magyar Nemzet (Budapest), May 25, 2001]

The Chamber of Deputies rejected an amendment to Law 83/1993 on the Accreditation of Higher Educational Institution, initiated earlier by Anghel Stanciu, ultra-nationalist Greater Rumania Party Deputy [see report of February 21]. The amendment's explicit aim was to hinder the accreditation of the private Hungarian University by mandating that newly-established university have at least one Rumanian-language division. If it had been approved, it would have deprived the 2 million-strong ethnic Hungarian community of any future native-language higher educational institution. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), May 23, 2001 and Bihari Napló (Oradea/Nagyvárad), May 23, 2001]

At the prompting of the Alba/Fehér County branch of the governing Rumanian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), the local court postponed the hearing on the case of the Batthyáneum Library. Confiscated during the communist period, the library was returned to the Roman Catholic Archbishopric in accordance with urgent government decree 13/1998, but the Church has not been able to take possession of the building due to litigation with the Alba County branch of the RSDP. The latter had initiated legal proceedings against the Rumanian National Library, the Cultural Ministry, the Roman Catholic Archbishopric, the Rumanian Academy and the government, asserting that the urgent government decree was unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court rejected an appeal lodged by the RSDP on January 16, but the case still awaits a final decision at the local level. Moreover, in an interview with the Hungarian-language daily, Krónika, Razvan Theodorescu, Minister for Cultural and Religious Affairs, said that the library, along with the Tara Crisurilor/Kőrösvidék in Oradea/Nagyvárad Museum (formerly belonging to the Roman Catholic Church) could not be returned since these constitute part of the “national heritage.” The library was donated in 1798 to “the Church and Transylvania” by Ignác Batthyány, Roman Catholic Bishop at the time. [Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), May 12, 2001 and Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), March 13, 2001]

Ultra-nationalist mayor of Cluj/Kolozsvár, Gheorghe Funar, called on the government to annul urgent government decree 1999/83 which restored ownership of the Sámuel Brassai High School building to its rightful owner, the Unitarian Church. The Unitarian Church recently requested the Cluj County District School Board to move its library out of the building, but Superintendent Dragomir Mariana refused to do so and appealed to Mayor Funar for help. The school board’s library, which has operated in the school free of charge for years, replaced the nearly 400-year old library of the Church after the latter had been confiscated under communist rule. Since its possessions are expected to be returned soon, the Church needs the space, told Szabadság Lőrinc Mikó, legal adviser to the Unitarian Church. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), May 9, 2001 and Krónika (Cluj/Kolozsvár), May 8, 2001]

The National Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEAA) issued temporary permits to three divisions of the private Hungarian University of Transylvania. As a result, instruction in three subjects — accounting, food industry and regional development – will commence in the 2001/02 academic year. The location of the branch university will be in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, a city of 50,000 in the heart of the compactly Hungarian inhabited region known as Székelyland. Head of the local branch Szabolcs Lányi said that approximately 450 freshmen will be enrolled while the faculty of ten will include professors from all over Rumania, as well as visiting professors from Budapest, Hungary, and Nuremberg, Germany. [Szabadság (Cluj/Kolozsvár), May 8, 2001 and MTI – Hungarian Telegraph Agency (Budapest), May 7, 2001]