Autonomy for ethnic Hungarian communities is common regional interest, says Jobbik leader Vona

vona gábor jobbik party

Highlights from Jobbik president Gábor Vona’s interview for felvidek.ma:

“We are the only Hungarian party not to base our decision whether to grant voting rights to ethnic Hungarians on the political preferences of these communities,” said Jobbik’s president. In his opinion, when granting these rights, Fidesz was aware that a significant part of the Hungarian communities living in the territories torn away would vote for them. Meanwhile, leftist parties challenge these rights and would revoke them because they have no significant voter base in the neighbouring countries.

Mr Vona asserted that “dual citizenship is a matter of principle, Hungarian people deserve this right. Nobody is liable for being born on one or the other side of the border. If you are a Hungarian, you should be allowed to vote and have a say in the fate of our common Hungarian nation.”

Welcoming the intensifying Visegrad Four cooperation, Jobbik’s president said Croatia could have a place in the group, too. Mr Vona added that his party was going to propose the Hungarian Parliament to arrange for V4 parliamentary delegations to regularly meet and discuss specific issues, in addition to the already existing meetings of V4 Prime Ministers. He concluded that “I would be satisfied if Hungary’s national and foreign policy could help the region realize that it is our joint interest to ensure the rights and support the autonomy efforts of ethnic Hungarian communities and understand that such a move would not destabilize the region. On the contrary, it would actually stabilize it.

Photo: facebook.com

Cooperating with Hungarians beneficial, says Orbán in Romania

Cooperating with Hungarians is beneficial for any peoples in the Carpathian Basin, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Oradea/Nagyvárad, in western Romania, on Monday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the new academic year at the Partium Christian University (PKE – Partiumi Keresztény Egyetem), Orbán said progress made by Hungarians in strengthening their community would contribute to the peace and prosperity of other peoples living in the Carpathian Basin, too.

“We are ready to cooperate and those who cooperate with us will benefit; in fact they will benefit right away,” he said.

“The Slovenes, Slovaks, Serbs and Hungarians are all making progress by strengthening each other and I hope that Romania, too, will one day embark on this path,” he added.

Orban attributed these developments to “the fact that we have succeeded in making Hungary a strong and respected central state in Europe”.

He named dual citizenship, expanding education opportunities, “the strengthening of Hungarian intellectual power centres” as “the first signs of a Hungarian age on the upswing”.

“Today, all throughout the Carpathian Basin, there are economic programmes that allow you to stay and make a living in your homeland,” Orbán said.

As regards the challenges of the future, he said: “Today, all we can say is that the foundation on which Hungarians in the motherland and you in Transylvania can build your futures is expanding with each passing day.”

“The strong hinterland we have now would have been the stuff of dreams a decade ago,” he said. “The motherland has pulled itself together and stands on its own two feet,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary had created a labour-based economy, family-based society, patriotic education and a “nationally-principled foreign policy”.

The prime minister vowed that Hungary would extend further support to the Partium Christian University.

“There will only be a Hungarian future in the Carpathian Basin if the youth placed into the service of the nation are committed and prepared,” he said.

“The Hungarian future is shaped by those youth who are brave enough to choose family, community and the nation, and courageous enough to choose traditional and tested European values over fashionable directions that roll up everything into one uniform mass,” Orbán said.

Photo: MTI

The inauguration of the Szászfenes/Floresti’s Reformed church

Hungary is now strong enough “in both body and soul” to take responsibility for ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania as well, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Floresti (Szászfenes), in north-western Romania, on Sunday.

Speaking at the inauguration of the town’s Reformed church, Orbán praised the community’s work in building the congregation.

“Where there is work, a will to act and unity, help won’t be far behind,” Orbán said.

“We are proud that the Hungarian government had the chance to support the completion of this church.”

He said part of the reason why the government was able to assist the Floresti community in building the church was that in 2014, Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin had a chance to support “a cross-border nation policy that assumes responsibility for all Hungarian communities“.

“We Hungarians will only have a future and we will only be able to protect our community, our buildings and intellectual heritage if we unite,” Orbán said.

Szászfenes/Floresti
Photo: MTI

“We will only have a future if we create the conditions for you to be able to make a living in your homeland,” he added.

The prime minister said western Europe — out of negligence or naivety — was hiding its religious symbols and turning its back on its own culture, not realising that by doing so “it is throwing away its own future”.

Orbán reminded those in attendance that they, too, could vote in Hungary’s parliamentary elections and asked them for their support in next year’s election.

“I can only help you if you help us,” he said.

Prior to the inauguration ceremony, Reverend István Máté said that the church’s construction had cost 3.5 million lei (EUR 760,700) and was supported by a 160 million forint (EUR 513,000) grant from the Bethlen Gábor Fund Manager.

As we wrote yesterday, Orbán had a speech at an event in Cluj/Kolozsvár, in north-western Romania, marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Photo: MTI

Parliament national minority representatives support decree condemning Ukrainian education law

The committee of the representatives of Hungary’s national minorities voted to support the recent parliamentary decree that condemns Ukraine’s new education law, at its meeting on Tuesday.

The body supported the five-party decree that was passed by Hungary’s parliament in a unanimous vote a week ago with 11 votes in favour and two abstentions. The decree states that the new law, which bans post-primary-level education in minority languages, is “unlawful” and seriously restricts the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian community to education and use of their mother tongue. It also urges measures to be taken against it.

The committee of national minorities said in a statement that they support the parliamentary decree “with a particular view to the fact” that the new Ukrainian law seriously restricts the rights of the Armenian, Bulgarian, German, Greek, Polish, Roma, Romanian and Slovak communities in that neighbouring country as well.

The representative of Ukrainian minorities, Jaroslava Hartyanyi, abstained from voting, and said that although the new education law was “rather well designed” and introduces reforms, one of its provisions, article 7, restricts already acquired minority rights which she called “unacceptable”.

She said she believed that as a result of international pressure and bilateral talks, the contested provision would be removed from the law.

She further noted that Hungary’s Ukrainian community had appealed to the Ukrainian president asking Petro Poroshenko “via every possible channel” not to sign the law and also stated their solidarity with the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia/Kárpátalja.

She asked other committee members for patience and understanding, saying

she “needed to have a bridge standing” which would allow her “to connect Ukrainians and Hungarians”.

As we wrote, Ukrainian President Petro Porosenko was signing the law yesterday, and the Hungarian Fm said: “We can guarantee that all of this will hurt Ukraine in the future.”

House speaker opens OMÉK agriculture and food expo in Budapest

The output of Hungary’s agriculture sector is the result of the year-round hard work of more than 200,000 Hungarian farmers, House Speaker László Kövér said at the opening of the 78th National Agriculture and Food Exhibition (OMÉK) in Budapest on Wednesday.

Kövér said the OMÉK was continuously growing in drawing power, noting that the biennial event is expected to draw some 100,000 visitors this year. The house speaker attributed this to rising demand for healthy GMO-free Hungarian agricultural products.

He said that

the motto of this year’s event, “Treasures of the Carpathian Basin”,

referred to the importance of a regional approach as well as the attention devoted to Hungarian farmers beyond the border and non-Hungarian farmers of the region.

Output of Hungary’s agriculture sector totalled over 2,619 billion forints (EUR 8.5bn) last year, Kövér said, adding that farm exports increased by 37.5 percent in the past six years. The sector’s foreign trade surplus also increased by 34.9 percent in the same period, he added.

Sándor Fazekas, the farm minister, said that

122 farmers from beyond the border would be present at the expo.

More than 50,000 jobs have been created in the agriculture sector over the past few years, which shows that the sector has been stabilised and is on a path of development, the minister said.

Details

The National Agriculture and Food Exhibition and Fair (OMÉK) will be holding for the 78th time between 20-24 September 2017, on the territory of the HUNGEXPO Budapest Fair Center and the Kincsem Park racetrack in Budapest.

Location: Hungexpo and Kincsem Park
1101 Budapest, Albertirsai út 10.

Date: September 20-24, 2017.

Daily ticket: 1,000 HUF

Official website: http://en.omek2017.hu/

Photo: MTI

Hungarian government raises capital of Széchenyi Investment Fund

Daily News Hungary economy

Hungary’s government has raised the capital of the Széchenyi Investment Fund (SZTA), an EU-supported venture capital fund established by the state to invest in SMEs, by 8 billion forints (EUR 26.3m) and extended its run, Economy Minister Mihály Varga said on Monday.

The investment period of the fund, established in 2011, was extended until the end of 2025, Varga said. The deadline for exiting its investments was extended until 2030, he added.

The government also decided to launch in September two investment funds under SZTA’s aegis targeting businesses in central Hungary and in areas in neighbouring countries with ethnic Hungarian populations, Varga said. The Irinyi II Venture Capital Fund will be launched with 8 billion forints to invest and the Carpathian Basin Business Development will start operating with 20 billion forints.

The government is launching a third fund with 20 billion forints to support listings on the Budapest Stock Exchange, Varga said. The National Bourse Development Fund will also start operating in September.

Jobbik backs ethnic Hungarian autonomy endeavours, says Vona

The opposition Jobbik party supports the autonomy endeavours of ethnic Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin, party leader Gábor Vona said on Friday. 

To attain this aim, there is a need for a strong Hungary and strong ethnic Hungarian communities, he told a press conference in Budapest.

Vona admitted that Hungary’s current government had made progress in its policy towards Hungarian communities abroad as against the previous Socialist-Free Democrat government, citing the law on the fast-track granting of Hungarian citizenship to ethnic kin.

He added, however, that the government failed to properly address the issues of emigration, assimilation and enforcing collective rights.

Vona criticised the government for “exporting party-policy conflicts and corruption” to Hungarian communities beyond the border, and for “not treating them as equals”.

The Jobbik leader also blamed the government for what he called its failure to raise autonomy issues during negotiations with leaders of the neighbouring countries.

Photo: Balázs Béli

Hungarian festival opens in Kolozsvár/Cluj

Hungarian Speaker of Parliament László Kövér attended the opening gala of the Kolozsvár Hungarian Days (Kolozsvári Magyar Napok) in Cluj (Kolozsvár), in western Romania, on Monday.

In his opening speech the speaker said: “The ultimate winners will always be those with the stronger identity and faith rather than those with stronger weapons or louder lies”.

Central and eastern Europe and the Carpathian Basin can become a driving force of Europe’s renewal if they reach beyond their 20th-century aspirations for national supremacy and exclusivity, Kövér said.

Countries in the central European and Carpathian region should realise that their own interests can be enforced without hurting, but indeed strengthening, the interests of their neighbours, he added.

“We Hungarians, wish all our neighbours the same as we wish ourselves: to be a strong, sovereign and cooperative nation-state based on equal respect for the dignity of all their ethnic minorities rather than on national exclusivity, one which protects the identity of not only its majority but its minorities, too; one which can ensure that all its indigenous communities can stay and prosper in their homeland despite any external, global counter interests”, Kövér said.

The House speaker insisted that the problems of ethnic minorities can only be resolved through a cooperation of European nation-states rather than through “open societies without an identity”. “The fact that it could not be achieved during the past century will not exclude the possibility of achieving that in the future,” he added.

As we wrote on July, Hungary’s deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén opened the traditional Tusványos summer university and student camp, a major cultural event for ethnic Hungarian youth, at Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), in central Romania.

Read more at:

Visit festival’s site HERE.

Photo: MTI

Hungary helps Slovenian Hungarians with EUR 1.6 m

The Hungarian government will help 155 businesses owned by ethnic Hungarian families in Slovenia with a combined 500 million forints (EUR 1.6m) from this year’s national budget, under a programme aimed at promoting Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin

The contracts were signed by Levente Magyar, Hungary’s deputy foreign minister, and winning bidders in north-eastern Slovenia’s Dobrovnik (Dobronak) on Monday.

At the signing ceremony, Magyar said that the scheme was aimed at “reversing the decades-long assimilation of Slovenian Hungarians”.

The Hungarian government will set aside another 500 million forints for similar purposes in 2018.

As we wrote, Hungary’s government has so far placed about 9 billion forints (EUR 29.6m) in grants and credit with businesses in the framework of an economic development programme in Vojvodina (Vajdaság), Serbia‘s northernmost region with a large ethnic Hungarian population, the state secretary for economic diplomacy said in Subotica (Szabadka).

Post WWII Hungarian-Slovak population exchange anniversary marked in Tótkomlós

A commemoration was held in Tótkomlós, in south-eastern Hungary, to mark the 70th anniversary of post WWII Hungarian-Slovak population exchange on Saturday.

Addressing the event, Zsolt Németh, the head of Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that although Hungarian-Slovak relations had significantly improved over the past 27 years of democracy, there were still some issues waiting to be addressed before “full reconciliation” can be achieved between the two countries. He mentioned compensation payment for the victims of deportation and ensuring minority rights as examples to such issues.

Concerning the 70th anniversary, Németh noted that in 1947 some 170,000 ethnic Hungarian residents of Czechoslovakia had been forced to leave their native land, with around 80,000 of them deported to Hungary. He said that around 1,500 settled in Tótkomlós.

“This forced transfer of people had brought about a lot of suffering,” Németh said.

The commemoration ended with the unveiling of a bilingual plaque reading “2017 – A Year of Reconciliation”.

The crusade against the Szekler flag continues in Romania

szeklerland flag

The Hungarian community from Romania has become, yet again, the losing party when it comes to the use of regional symbols. According to a decision by the Târgu Mureș Court of Appeals, the Szekler flag, as well as the flag of the city have to be removed from the building of the Gheorgheni/Gyergyószentmiklós City Hall. The lawsuit was initiated in February by the infamous Civic Association for Dignity in Europe (ADEC), founded by Dan TANASĂ, an activist known for his extremist and anti-Hungarian views.

According to the mayor of Gheorgheni/Gyergyószentmiklós, the removal of the flags could produce tension among the communities living there, which so far was not characteristic for this city with a 85% Hungarian majority. He added that the Romanian minority and the Hungarian majority have always lived side by side in peace and without any problems.

It is sad that in a country that presents itself as democratic and respecting the rule of law, a supposedly unbiased justice system becomes the messenger and the supporter of extremism and anti-Hungarian sentiment, thus preventing the naturally occurring conditions for a peaceful cohabitation. Moreover, we find it worrisome that it is precisely an organisation that calls itself Civic Association for Dignity in Europe, which initiates lawsuits against the Hungarian community and other minorities.

Photo: szekelyhon.ro

The Bread of Hungarians – A Unique Hungarian Charity Program

Organizations that are helping children will get some support both inside and outside the borders of Hungary. The point of Magyarok Kenyere (The Bread of Hungarians) program is to gather grain from the Hungarian population of the Carpathian Basin and to return it to those in need in the form of flour and bread.

According to Hirado.hu, the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture’s local units host a grain collection and the Festival of Bread. The Festival of Merging will be held on 13th August, and the central Festival of Bread will take place on 20th August in Pécs. Law professor László Korinek, who came up with the idea, gave Kossuth Radio an interview recently.

“We host a supporting program that might be beneficial for both Hungarians and non-Hungarians. We ask those helping us to gather not only for Hungarians but also the children of the majority nations. Our intentions are good,” he emphasized.

The program’s fame reached beyond the Carpathian Basin. “There are people from Canada, America, Australia and Sweden who are asking how they could join the process. Not only Hungarians send grain, but the majority nations as well, so people can be part of a greater good even with a very little effort,” László Korinek highlighted.

It is not impossible that the program will be extended to other countries as well. “I was approached by a Dutch person who asked me about extending this initiation to the Netherlands. I said, why not? Whoever does this, they do good.”

It is likely that the program will soon become a “Hungarikum,” a characteristic Hungarian thing. “Currently the Collection of Hungarian Values is dealing with the case, and it will get into the Collection of Hungarikums as a cultural heritage,” László Korinek stated in his interview on Radio Kossuth.

Ce: bm

Anti-Hungarian hate speech have risen to alarming proportions in Romania

basescu

Anti-Hungarian sentiment and hate speech have risen to alarming proportions in recent days in Romania, as social media and news channels have been overflooded with nationalistic messages directed against the Hungarian community by Romanian politicians, journalists, social media influencers and opinion-makers. 

In the midst of a political crisis, the Romanian political elite, with considerable boost from the media, once again flashes the so-called “Hungarian card”, and turns the public opinion against the Hungarian community in Romania. Instead of focusing on the issues at hand, namely an internal crisis within the largest political formation in Parliament – the Social Democratic Party (PSD) – with the potential of turning into a veritable governmental crisis, the media quickly managed to divert the public’s attention by launching a tirade of lies and openly xenophobic comments against the Hungarian community.

Last week, the leader of PSD, Liviu DRAGNEA, announced that they propose a vote of no confidence in Parliament against prime minister Sorin GRINDEANU and his cabinet for not fulfilling the promises made during the campaign. In preparing the motion, DRAGNEA and his party had conversations with several members of Parliament, among them the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ), who were prepared to back the motion, on condition that the PSD-ALDE coalition supports a law aiming to extend the linguistic rights of the Hungarian community in Romania, as well as allow the use of their regional symbols, among other things. As soon as news of this reached the media, news outlets generated a nationalistic hysteria within hours, raising false alarms that the Hungarians were planning to take Transylvania from the Romanians.

Among the first to strike a chauvinistic tone was former president Traian BĂSESCU. He posted a message on his Facebook page in which he expressed anger and dismay at the idea that the coalition parties voted a law in the Senate, which allowed the 15th of March to become a national day for Hungarians in Romania. BĂSESCU launched into a series of lies and exaggerations claiming that the respective day is insulting to Romanians, because “tens of thousands of Romanians from Transylvania had been killed by the armies of the Hungarian counts, and entire villages had been wiped off the face of the earth” during the 1848-1849 revolution. Not content with distorting historical facts and openly lying in order to appeal to dormant nationalistic sentiment, and thus building political capital for himself, the former president ended his message by practically denying the Hungarian community their right to celebrate the national day of Hungarians within the territory of Romania: “Nobody is stopping Hungarians in Romania from celebrating the 15th of March in Budapest”. Ironically, it was the same Traian BĂSESCU, who on the 15th of March 2010, while still in office, called Hungarians in Romania his “dear fellow countrymen”, and praised the Hungarian revolutionaries of 1848-1849 for fighting for the common ideals of the European people.

basescu
Former president Traian BĂSESCU distorting historical facts and openly lying in order to appeal to dormant nationalistic sentiment

The main propagators of the nationalistic hysteria have been certain news channels, with particularly xenophobic rhetoric displayed by politicians and journalists on talk shows of Realitatea TV and B1 TV. The host and the guests of Realitatea TV’s evening talk show entitled ”Jocuri de putere” (Power games) outdid each other in anti-Hungarian comments, fuelled by purposely incorrect interpretations of the law proposed by UDMR/RMDSZ. At one point the host, Rareș BOGDAN, with the purpose of shocking viewers, ranted about a “separate state in the middle of Transylvania”. One of his guests, the journalist Oreste TEODORESCU, referred to Hungarians as “backward and anachronistic”, simply for wanting more rights, and he openly threatened the Hungarian community with a veritable uprising of the Romanian majority, if they refuse to give up their requests. What is more, blatantly false captions were displayed during the entire duration of the show, with the sole purpose of inflaming the spirits and capturing the attention of the viewers with their sensationalistic content: “The Szekler flag becomes mandatory in Transylvania”, “Region with Kosovo-type special status in Transylvania”, “Transylvania in danger! Dragnea wants to auction it”, etc.

A well-known journalist and political analyst, Cristian Tudor POPESCU, went on Digi24 TV to share his views on the 15th of March becoming a national day for Hungarians in Romania, and like BĂSESCU and others, he spoke of historical facts in purposely exaggerated terms, further adding to an already agitated public mood and fuelling the anti-Hungarian rhetoric that had permeated the media: “The 15th of March represents the humiliation, the discrimination, the discrediting, the attacking and the killing of Romanians by the Hungarians.”

Captions displayed with the sole purpose of inflaming the spirits and capturing the attention of the viewers with their sensationalistic content.

These are but a few examples of the xenophobic-chauvinistic messages and comments that have been circulating in the media and online in the past couple of days. The Mikó Imre Legal Services Assistance for Minority Rights condemns the extreme form of anti-Hungarian rhetoric that appeared in the Romanian mass-media and in the social media. Our organisation has submitted complaints to the National Council for Anti-Discrimination (CNCD) against politicians, journalists, social media influencers and all those who publicly voiced anti-Hungarian messages and thus contributed to propagating false, misleading and xenophobic content about the Hungarians in Romania, hurting the dignity of an entire community.

Photo: MTI

Footage of the Carpathian Mountains more beautiful than ever before – VIDEO

The Carpathian Mountains are one of Europe’s central mountain chains. Still, many people in Hungary does not know that the North Hungarian Mountains are also parts of the Carpathian Mountains.

24.hu concluded some interesting facts about the majestic heights:

  • It begins at the Devín Gate, it surrounds the Carpathian Basin and Transylvania, then it ends in southwest at the Kazan strait.
  • It is the second most extended mountain range in Europe after the Alps.
  • Its whole length is 1500 kilometres, its width is between 12 and 500 kilometres, and is spread for 190,000 square kilometres.
  • The Carpathian Mountains are covered with 10 million hectars of natural forest.
  • Most of Central Europe’s remaining primeval forests can be found there, its whole territory makes up a total of 300,000 hectars.
  • The Carpathian Mountains is a contiguous mountain chain, but it can be divided into multiple parts. There are three main regions: Western Carpathians (affecting the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia), Eastern Carpathians (southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania), and Southern Carpathians (Romania, Serbia).
  • It exceeds the height of 2500 meters. Its highest peak is Gerlachovský štít with 2655 meters. In the Hungarian part of the mountains, the highest peak is Kékes with its 1014 meters.
  • There are no glaciers like or areas covered with snow.
  • It has almost 4000 different higher plant species.
  • The Carpathian Mountains has the richest fauna in Europe. It has the largest brown bear, wolf and lynx population in the continent. About half of Europe’s imperial eagle population lives in the Carpathian Mountains. Another rare species is the European bison, which is represented by approximately 400 specimen in the region.
  • The North Hungarian Mountains are also parts of the inner edge of the Carpathian Mountains.
  • Several great cities of the world can be found near the mountain range, like Vienna, Krakow or Bratislava.

Here you can see the gorgeous view of “Europe’s crown”:
https://cdn.airvuz.com/drone-video/bd4c28c7daaf7e596e47479d58b809f7/bd4c28c7daaf7e596e47479d58b809f7-720p.mp4?_=1

Ce: bm

Hungarian deputies in Carpathian Basin meet in Budapest – UPDATE

Budapest, March 24 (MTI) – The democratic legitimation of nation states has no acceptable alternative anywhere in the world, Parliamentary Speaker László Kövér told a plenary meeting of Hungarian lawmakers from the Carpathian Basin in Budapest on Friday.

All the existing alternatives are anti-democratic because they lack legitimacy, Kövér said. There are “faceless and ruthless” global interest groups that want to take over the role of sovereign, democratic and internationally cooperative nation states in Europe, he insisted.

As the decline of a unipolar world is unavoidable, Pax Americana will need to be replaced in eastern-central Europe by Pax Europae Mediae or Pax Danubia or Pax Carpatica, he said. This will strengthen cooperation in the region, put an end to the ethnic rivalry of the 20th century and open new prospects for Hungary’s nation policy, he added.

Photo: MTI

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó highlighted the importance of trust between neighbouring countries to resolve issues.

“We could have opted for a strategy that we will not cooperate as long as we do not see eye to eye over problematic issues; instead, the (Hungarian) government has chosen to work together with them for shared success, to ensure an opportunity for resolving issues that most impact the life of ethnic Hungarians,” he said.

Concerning Hungary’s position on the United States’ patriotic economy policy, Szijjártó said that it should be considered “positive” and added that Hungary pursued similar policies. “Contrary to the internation mainstream we are not frustrated because the US presidents puts America first; this is natural… and we totally agree,” he said.

UPDATE

In a closing statement, the deputies welcomed the increasing number of election alliances formed by local Hungarian parties in the neighbouring countries over the past few years. They expressed the firm belief that that through closer cooperation the Hungarian organisations in the region could more strongly press for the interests of Hungarian communities with weaker representation.

The participants called it important that a dialogue about the autonomy endeavours of Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin should be kept on the EU’s agenda with references made to other member states with successful autonomy models.

The deputies urged the Hungarian government to protect by every possible means the currently existing rights of the Hungarian communities in the region with a particular focus on the use of their mother tongue.

They welcomed the Hungarian government’s programme of significantly improving and increasing the number of border crossing points to cater for smoother connection with neighbouring countries. They also welcomed the government’s programme of developing the network of Hungarian kindergartens that allow education in the mother tongue.

The participants expressed support for all endeavours to halt the decline in the number and proportion of ethnic Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin.

The deputies expressed concern and condemned discriminatory acts against the Hungarian community in Romania and called on the Hungarian parliament and government to address the issue in the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the OSCE, and inform the US government.

Regarding Slovakia, the participants proposed bilateral talks with the Hungarian government on still standing “sensitive issues” such as dual citizenship, the post-WWII Benes decrees, minority self-governments and Hungarian education.

Photo: MTI

Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister: Survival of ethnic Hungarians abroad dependent on progress in autonomy

Budapest, March 20 (MTI) – The survival of ethnic Hungarian communities abroad depends on their ability to make progress towards autonomy, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said in Budapest on Monday.

Speaking at a presentation of the latest volumes of the publication entitled Minority Rights, Interest Representation, Autonomy, Semjén said autonomy was both a goal and a vision for the future for ethnic Hungarians. He said Hungarians living beyond the border must never abandon their demands for autonomy.

Ethnic Hungarians’ ability to enforce their interests depends on the successes of ethnic Hungarian political parties, Semjén said. He argued that Hungarian interests could only be defended abroad if such Hungarian parties have representation in the given country’s parliament, at the local government level or if they take on roles within the government.

Hungary is of the view that ethnic Hungarian representation should be as unified as possible. If there is unity, there is success, Semjén said.

This is especially important in parliamentary elections, the deputy prime minister said. He added that ethnic Hungarians could not afford to have parties with no realistic chance of winning seats in parliament run in the elections, arguing that they just split the Hungarian vote.

Semjén said that apart from representing the interests of the local Hungarian community, ethnic Hungarian parties also had a responsibility to have a clear and acceptable message for the majority nation. He mentioned the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians in Serbia as an example of an ethnic Hungarian party that meets this criterion.

Photo: MTI

March 15 – That’s how Hungarians celebrated the national day – Photo gallery

Celebrations were held nationwide and in Hungarian communities abroad to mark the anniversary of Hungary’s 1848-49 revolution and freedom fight, on Wednesday. We collected the best pictures, please check the photo gallery:

Budapest

A huge Hungarian cockade in Budapest, photo: MTI
Polish participants in the march, photo: MTI
Polish participants in the march, photo: MTI
Hussars in Budapest, photo: MTI
The Holy Crown of Hungary, photo: MTI
Hussar in Budapest, phoo: MTI
Hussars in Budapest, photo: MTI
Colorful events at the the Hungarian National Museum, photo: MTI
Colorful events at the the Hungarian National Museum, photo: MTI
Hussars in Budapest, photo: MTI
Hussars in Budapest, photo: MTI
Photo: MTI
Photo: MTI
Photo: MTI

SZEGED

Szeged,Hungary, photo: MTI

Hódmezővásárhely

Hódmezõvásárhely, Hungary, photo: MTI

Carpathian basin

March 15 commemorations were also held in ethnic Hungarian communities of neighbouring countries.

Several hundred people celebrated the revolution’s anniversary in Bratislava, organised by local Hungarian organisations and the Hungarian embassy.

Representatives of Hungarian organisations and ethnic minority self governments in Croatia laid wreaths of commemoration at a monument to poet Sándor Petőfi in Zagreb. The ceremony was attended by deputy state secretary at the Hungarian prime minister’s office Péter Szilágyi.

Canada’s Hungarian community held a commemoration in Vancouver’s Hungarian House, attended by state secretary Árpád János Potápi.

Székelyudvarhely, Szeklerland
Tiszaderzs, 200-years old Bible
Tiszaderzs, 200-years old Bible
Kézdivásárhely, Szeklerland, photo: MTI/AP/Vadim Ghirda
Székelyudvarhely, Szeklerland, photo: MTI

Nyerges-tetõ, Szeklerland, photo: MTI/AP/Vadim Ghirda
Beregszász, Transcarpathia (Ukraine), photo: MTI

March 15 commemorations were also held in ethnic Hungarian communities of neighbouring countries. State Secretary Levente Magyar spoke in Berehove (Beregszász), in western Ukraine, and said that the “glorious events of the distant past convey messages that are still valid today”.

Bácskossuthfalva, Vojvodina (Serbia), photo: MTI

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén attended a celebration in northern Serbia’s Subotica (Szabadka) organised by Vojvodina’s VMSZ party. In his address, he said that Hungary has similar challenges now to the ones it faced in 1848; “for example when Hungary’s sovereignty is questioned in Brussels, telling us whom we should live together with”.

Bácskossuthfalva, Vojvodina (Serbia), photo: MTI
Kolozsvár, Transylvania, photo: MTI
Kolozsvár, Transylvania, photo: MTI
Photo: MTI
Nagyszalonta, Romania, photo: MTI
Nagyszalonta, Romania, photo: MTI

Hunor Kelemen, head of Romania’s ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party, spoke at a commemoration in Salonta (Nagyszalonta, western Romania), and said that freedom in Romania is “not a rock-hard building but a garden which… needs to be recreated year after year; it may have old trees which call for pruning, and sometimes you need to plant new ones, too”.

Romania is at crossroads and it needs to chose “between rule of law, parliamentary democracy or an invisible but authoritarian power”, Kelemen said.

Nagyszalonta, Romania, photo: MTI

Featured photo: MTI/AP/Vadim Ghirda

Hungarian government earmarks 649,000 euros for twinning programmes in Carpathian Basin

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – The government has allocated 200 million forints (EUR 649,000) to promote twinning programmes managed by local governments in Hungary and neighbouring countries, the state secretary for Hungarian communities abroad said on Tuesday.

Bids will be invited for programmes that aim to further develop already existing twinning cooperation with Austria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine, János Árpád Potápi told a press conference.

The grants are also aimed at promoting exchanges in experiences, knowledge and best practices, he said.

It is further aimed at supporting joint commemorations marking events in Hungarian history, and promoting cooperation between educational institutions and new twinning agreements, he said.

The amounts to be awarded to individual programmes range between 500,000 forints (EUR 1,630) and 2.5 million, he said.