Croatia’s Hungarian community important for Hungarian government

Budapest, September 26 (MTI) – Preserving the Hungarian community in Croatia is an important objective for the Hungarian government, the state secretary for ethnic Hungarian communities abroad told a conference on Monday.

Árpád János Potápi addressed the conference in Budapest that focused on the Hungarian minority’s situation in Croatia in light of the early parliamentary elections held in the neighbouring country on September 11.

Croatia’s Hungarian community has been one of the fastest-shrinking communities within the total Hungarian population over the past years, Potápi said, noting that their number had been 14,000 in 2011.

At the ballot, the representative of the Democratic Community of Croatian Hungarians (HMDK) secured one of the eight parliamentary seats ensured for national minority delegates.

Róbert Jankovics, the representative of the party gaining a seat, told the conference that although the Hungarian community in Croatia has been shrinking, the number of those casting a vote has continuously been increasing.

He noted that in the Sept. election a record number of Hungarian votes were cast, twice as many as the number of votes cast by the next biggest minority group.

Source: MTI