The Szekler National Council’s European Citizens’ Initiative will be given a new chance, Justice Minister Judit Varga wrote on her Facebook account on Wednesday.

“In addition to the organisers, I myself turned to the European Commission, asking them to extend the period available for the collection of signatures with regard to the fact that the travel restrictions and restrictions on movement imposed by Member States due to the coronavirus epidemic made the collection of signatures extremely difficult. We believe it is a great success that according to the Commission’s proposal tabled today, EU citizens will again have the opportunity to support the initiative,” the Minister’s post reads.

If the European Parliament and the Council adopt the proposal, the term for the collection of signatures will be extended by another six months. Thanks to the exemplary Hungarian cooperation, more than 1 million EU citizens have supported the initiative so far. However, in addition to the criterion of 1 million signatures, another condition is that fixed numbers of signatures must be collected in minimum 7 Member States, the Minister underlined.

“Let’s not forget that the more signatures there are, the stronger our common message will be. Every Hungarian signature counts,” Ms. Varga wrote.

(Ministry of Justice/MTI)