Romanian leader calls upon government against Hungarian influence

Romanians of Szeklerland demand a separate government office for themselves, and they also want representation in the parliament – based on the announcement of Agerpres (news agency). At the Summer University of Marosfő, one of the main topics was the situation of the “endangered” Romanian minority of Szeklerland. 

Marian Stipou – leader of the Romanian Civil Forum of Harghita and Mures counties – demands urgent steps from the government to

stop the Hungarian government’s attempts of ultimately expanding its co-sovereignty to Szeklerland.

He wants to “normalise” the relationship of the two ethnical groups in the counties of Harghita, Mures and Covasna. The new office’s task would be to protect the rights and the cultural identity of the Romanian minority and to stop the ethnical discrimination of Romanians in the region – said Stipou. The leader of the new government office should be the “national identity state councillor” – added the civil leader.

Stipou also wants to finance the cultural projects, institutions, publications, civil and church associations from the state budget. He initiated a new law to ensure the representation of the Romanian population of the three Szekler counties in the lower house of the Romanian Parliament. Besides he also wants governmental support to build an outdoor museum in Voinesti (Covasna county), to renew the orthodox churches of Bretcu and Varghis) and to settle the situation of Úzvölgy’s military cemetery. Moreover, he also wants assistance to the publication of a new book about Transylvanian history in several languages.  

Romanian Civil Forum of Szeklerland also demands a pact of all political parties in which they solemnly swear that they will never accept the ethnic-based, territorial autonomy in Romania. The forum calls upon the Romanian government to

firmly reject the abnormal intervention of Budapest into the internal affairs of the country.

The Romanian civil forum wants an investigation of the Hungarian citizenship and land ownership in Romania and to examine the long-term consequences of the Hungarian tenders in the region. It also suggests accepting a law that would exclude people with double-citizenship from public administration – following the Slovakian model. 

The forum supports the government’s investment in motorways between Targu Mures-Iasi and Brasov-Bacau moreover, the construction of the airport of Brasov. In the meantime, it urges Klaus Iohannis (president) to turn to the High Council of Defence, discuss the problems of the three counties and decide about the necessary measures to fix them. 

The same kind of proposal has appeared earlier at the Summer University of Marosfő, by Jean-Adrian Andrei (prefect of Harghita county), who supported the idea of a governmental office, concerning the problems of Romanian communities in minority. Based on the investigation of Maszol.ro: the Romanian civil forums of the three Szekler counties are all dominated by right-wing extremists.