The Deputy Prime Minister for national policy shares the view that everything that takes us closer to achieving the autonomy aspirations of Hungarian communities beyond the borders is beneficial, and everything that moves us further away from those goals is harmful.
Zsolt Semjén said on Thursday in Budapest at the presentation of the book With Rights in Europe by Katalin Szili, Special Commissioner of the Prime Minister, which reviews the autonomy aspirations of Hungarian communities beyond the borders: the essence and purpose of the Hungarian State lie in promoting the survival of the Hungarian nation and improving the qualify of life for every Hungarian. A pre-condition to achieving this is to help every constituent part of the nation survive, and the survival of the constituent parts of the nation depends on the achievement of autonomy, he argued. If there is autonomy, we shall survive; if there is no autonomy, our survival is questionable, the Deputy Prime Minister said.
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Mr Semjén stressed: autonomy aspirations and demands cannot depend on the political situation and preferences of the neighbouring successor states, and we must insist on achieving them. It is important, at the same time, that the parts of the nation beyond the borders, too, should want autonomy and should make efforts towards it.
A debate must be initiated with the majority parts of the nation regarding this, and they have to be made to understand that these aspirations are not aimed against the majority nation. Experiences show that wherever autonomy has been achieved, all the parties concerned have benefited, and it may serve as a guarantee of a peaceful life.
He added: the various autonomy concepts cannot be developed in Budapest. Every individual part of the nation must identify its own customised concept or concepts, and these must be represented by legitimate Hungarian organisations. The Hungarian Government will provide all the necessary assistance with this, he promised.
Mr Semjén further pointed out that in the case of the Hungarian block community in Transylvania, territorial autonomy can be the solution, while in the case of the Hungarian community living in Partium, a special form of cultural autonomy can be a suitable means. At the same time, regarding the Csangos, individual autonomy could be the goal. The various concepts, however, do depend on the historical and cultural circumstances of the given successor state: for instance, the autonomy concept of Vojvodina cannot simply be exported to Transcarpathia as it is.
He remarked: this is the first time since Trianon in block territories that the Hungarian community is „assimilating” members of the majority nation, for instance, through mixed marriages. In Vojvodina in Serbia and in Transcarpathia in Ukraine, individuals coming from mixed marriages who barely had any Hungarian identity at all have begun to turn towards the cause of the Hungarian community. They would like to reinforce this process, and therefore the allocation of cultural grants has been raised to previously unprecedented levels.
Mr Semjén said: it is crucial that while internal politics is rather stormy in Hungary, there is full political and social consensus regarding the three most important issues of Hungary’s nation policy: citizenship, franchise and the need for autonomy.
The Hungarian State must launch an offensive in the interest of these autonomy aspirations before all international forums as „what is due to others is also due to us”, he said in summary.
Regarding the book, the Deputy Prime Minister highlighted that it takes stock of the parts of the nation living in the neighbouring countries around us, evaluates the situation, the population ratios and compositions in each of those countries, and clarifies the terms used.
In answer to a question, Mr Semjén also said: from the respect of minority rights, the European Union is a disappointment. They never thought it conceivable within the organisation that in Slovakia a Hungarian physician is, in theory, not allowed to speak to his patient in Hungarian. He added: we cannot hope that the EU will enforce these basic rules vis-a-vis the successor states, but we can demand the forms of autonomy which have been implemented within the EU.
State Secretary for National Policy Árpád János Potápi told the press that the population figures and percentages of the Hungarian community within the Carpathian Basin are decreasing continuously, though the rates of decrease vary. The Hungarian block community is not decreasing in terms of its percentage, but it is declining in terms of numbers in the Carpathian Basin. At the same time, there is a drastic decline in scattered communities; there are places where this decline reaches 75 to 80 per cent. The goal is to attempt to stop this process in every possible way, the State Secretary pointed out, and took the view: in addition to the unification of the nation in a constitutional sense, major steps have been taken in recent years towards the formation of a single area in an economic sense as well.
The book is the result of joint efforts: the embassies and consulates operating in the Carpathian Basin took part in the work, and the Research Institute for National Policy and the Bethlen Gábor Fund, too, contributed to the compilation. This is a publication which may be useful also in daily life. Rather than outlining a new autonomy concept, it discloses to readers autonomy concepts which have been implemented to date. At the same time, autonomy can only be created if the communities concerned demand it and make every effort to achieve it, he stressed.
Katalin Szili said: it took them a year to complete the publication which reviews the autonomy aspirations of the past 25 years and takes stock of the legal frameworks afforded by the European Union.
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She highlighted: Hungary and the Hungarian nation envisage the implementation of the autonomy concepts within the European boundaries. It is necessary to address the autonomy aspirations of not only those who live in larger blocks, but also those of scattered communities, she indicated.
The publication also covers the terms used in each community and what the various concepts entail. She said: as the next step, they will review the conditions of individual autonomy, and will table the summary of that review in November, on the day of Hungarian scattered communities.
(Prime Minister's Office)
