Bálványos Summer University programme changed after verdicts on Hungarian issues

In view of the recent court rulings involving ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the programme of the Bálványos Summer University in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), central Romania, has been changed to reflect on current issues, the organisers said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference in Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely), Krisztina Sándor cited the prison sentences given to two members of the Sixty-four Countries Youth Movement, the “nationalising” of woodlands once belonging to the Bánffy family and the issue of Batthyáneum, a high school in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár), which the court has refused to give back to the Hungarian community, as verdicts that have “caused furore” in the Hungarian community.

Sándor, who heads the National Council of Transylvania Hungarians (EMNT), said that discussion of these issues has been incorporated into the programme.

Topics of podium discussions will also include the future of Europe, the place of central and eastern Europe in the Europe of the future, the prospects of the Carpathian Basin and Hungarian minorities in Transylvania and Szeklerland, Sándor said.

A number of Hungarian politicians, including Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Deputy PM Zsolt Semjén, are scheduled to attend, along with politicians, journalists and experts from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bavaria, she said. Romanian dignitaries are once again expected to skip the event, as they have in previous years, she added.

Musical performances in the evening will include popular artists like Hungarian singer Magdi Rúzsa, the Honeybeast, Vad Fruttik and Tankcsapda groups, among others.

The summer university, a major cultural event for ethnic Hungarians in Romania, will be held between July 24 and 29.

Last year, the event attracted some 17,000-19,000 people daily, organiser Barna Fancsali said.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Tusványos

Source: MTI