Over half a million get Hungarian citizenship since 2010

Budapest, January 2 (MTI) – The head of Parliament’s national cohesion committee called it a success of the government’s policy towards Hungarian communities abroad that over half a million people have been granted Hungarian citizenship under a fast-track procedure since 2010.

Of them, over 87,000 registered for this year’s general election until December 20, Arpad Janos Potapi of ruling Fidesz told MTI. The number of such voters could reach 200,000 by the election scheduled for spring, he added.

Voters residing beyond Hungary’s borders will decide on not more than two or three mandates and will by no means influence the outcome of the election, he said.

Addressing the situation of ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring countries, Potapi said that Slovakia stubbornly rejected dual citizenship, which has been duly reflected by the low number of applicants there.

Although Ukraine also considers the institution of dual citizenship unconstitutional, it refrains from imposing sanctions on ethnic Hungarians who assumed Hungarian citizenship, he said.

Potapi welcomed the Hungarian parties’ approach to Hungarians abroad becoming increasingly uniform since 2010.

“There has been a willy-nilly shift in the position of the left-wing parties. They supported the citizenship law and started to compete for the votes of ethnic Hungarians abroad,” Potapi said.

No matter what government is formed in 2014 or 2018, the interests of Hungarians abroad will have to be taken into account, he said.

Photo: retrofm.hu

Source: http://hungarymatters.hu/