Issue of the month: Following the Hungarian-speaking Szekler community’s demonstration on 15 March in Odorheiu Secuiesc, is the Szekler minority is entitled to ask for an autonomous state?
Csaba Ferenc, vice-president of the
Szekler National Council (CNS)
Of course we are entitled to ask for our
autonomy, it is the fundamental right of a
community to express its aspirations and
our future depends on that. If not, in a few
dozen years there won’t be any Szeklers
left. At the last referendum 266 people
declared that they were Szeklers.
Gheorghe Funar, Greater Romania
Party (PRM) senator and former
mayor of Cluj-Napoca
They are not entitled to found any
republic and reason that the Szeklers did not
proclaim their independence at Odorheiu
Secuiesc on 15 March is to the merit of the
Greater Romania Party (PRM), because
we threatened a counter-demonstration of
100,000 patriots. And to clarify the issue,
we are not talking about Szeklers, we’re
talking about Hungarians. It is absurd to
ask for autonomy. They are 300 Szeklers
and they want a president, government,
parliament, embassies for 300 people?
Give this problem to 300 lunatics from a
mental asylum to solve and they wouldn’t
find a solution. Anyway, this demand for
an autonomous Szeklerland is a screen
for Hungarian irredentism. They act now,
because they know that once in the EU
they won’t have space for manoeuvres of
this sort anymore.
Smaranda Enache, president
of Liga Pro Europa
The European models of federalism
were born out of the aspirations of certain
minorities and in a democracy, the right to
express one’s aspirations is fundamental.
All these examples of federalism have a
common philosophy, that is the will protect
diversity, be it ethnic, linguistic, religious
or environmental. It is up to us now to
create our own model, because models of
federalism cannot be imported.
Jeno Szasz, mayor of Odorheiu
Secuiesc and president
of the Civic Union
of the Hungarians (UCM)
We have the right to shape our own
future, but terms such as ‘territorial
autonomy’ can cause upset in Romania.
What we need in the first place is a
process of authentic decentralisation,
because problems should be solved
in the community where they appear.
The Romanian administrative system
is still the over-centralised one we
inherited from Ceausescu, because
nowadays representatives of parties want
decentralisation only up until the moment
they get to power. But on the other hand,
the Hungarian government should support
us in our initiative.
Zamfira Pora, deputy prefect
of the Mures County
The demand of the Szeklers is a matter
of extremism, of the radicalism of some of
the exponents of the Hungarian minority.
It is not a new story. Local autonomy has
always been an objective of the Hungarian
minority of Transylvania. In my opinion,
the Szeklers are not entitled to ask for
autonomy, because the present legal and
constitutional framework already gives
them enough rights. Their rights are
guaranteed just like the rights of any other
citizens.