Ministerial Commissioner Ferenc Kalmár from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade called for the reinforcement of the collective rights of national minorities in representation of Hungary at a conference held to mark the 10th anniversary of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Bolzano Recommendations on National Minorities.

“While the protection of collective rights needs to be expanded, there are countries such as Romania and Slovakia that do not even recognise the collective rights of minorities”, he told the press with relation to the meeting.

At the conference, the Ukrainian Ambassador criticised the provisions of Hungary’s Constitution, according to which Hungary assumes responsibility for cross-border Hungarians. Several participants complained about the mass affording of dual nationality and with regard to the fact that minorities are not integrating into majority society.

With relation to this, Mr. Kalmár stressed that without the provision of collective rights, integrating national minorities into majority society can only lead to assimilation. “The prerequisite for the continued existence of minorities is that they should only be able to integrate as a community, because only a community is capable of preserving its native language, culture and identity”, he added.

“In Hungary’s opinion mediation mechanisms are required with relation to national minorities, as well as a recommendation concerning the settlement of disputes and a monitoring system, in addition to which the proliferation of good practices and the rethinking of the notion of a nation state is also necessary”, he said.

The Commissioner pointed out that following the Second World War not a single European institution issued recommendations with relation to teaching history, despite the fact that much depends on how history is interpreted. “The teaching of history may be suitable for forming national identity and relieving grievances”, Mr. Kalmár stressed.

Mr. Kalmár highlighted the fact that migrants and autochthonous minorities had not been confused at the conference.

“At the meeting, it was determined that countries are becoming increasingly isolated, and there is an increase in nationalism, but that the Bolzano Recommendations are still valid. It is unacceptable to shift the protection of national minorities from a multinational basis to a bilateral basis in view of the fact that countries have highly differing weights and influence, which could have an adverse effect on the protection of national minorities. The issue of mutuality was also raised, according to which, for instance, it makes a difference whether the minority in question is 1.3 million strong or only has 30 thousand members, as is the case with relation to Hungary and Romania”, the Commissioner said in summary.

Another topic of discussion at the conference was the fact that all countries earmark funds within their state budgets for supporting their cross-border minorities, with relation to which transparency is important, he also stated.

The Bolzano Recommendations on National Minorities and Inter-State Relations were adopted in Bolzano, Italy ten years ago in 2008 on the initiative of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. The goal of the Recommendations is to set down how states can afford benefits to members of their minorities living within the territory of other states in such a way that it does not hinder international relations and is in accordance with international law.

(MTI)