The programmes which serve to support scattered Hungarian communities will continue steadily, and we have our one millionth new Hungarian citizen, the Deputy Prime Minister responsible for nation policy said at the press conference during the meeting of the Hungarian Diaspora Council held on Thursday in Budapest.

Zsolt Semjén highlighted: the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Programme will continue with unchanged dynamism and with an increased budget. He indicated: 115 young people travelled to visit Hungarian diaspora communities, and 150 member organisations receive them.

According to his evaluation, this is one of the most successful programmes. The emigrant organisations that may be tied to Hungary have been successfully transformed into homes for every Hungarian in the given countries, he added.

He told the press: the Mikes Kelemen Programme, too, will continue, the purpose of which is to gather together the heritage of the Hungarian diaspora. To this end, 15 highly qualified archivists and museologists have been sent to visit a variety of countries, and 35 thousand volumes have been received to date. The most precious items will be stored in the National Széchenyi Library, while the rest will be sent to schools in, for instance, Transcarpathia.

The Government enabled, with the assistance of the Rákóczi Federation, 2,500 young persons living in scattered communities to come to Hungary to study and to forge ties with the motherland, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Mr Semjén said: in his view, the fact that the baby bond and the maternity support have been extended to every Hungarian wherever they may live in the world is a revolutionary innovation.

He also informed the press about three new forms of support: they interviewed 213 weekend schools about their needs, and based on this survey, they will receive grants, in response to a call for proposals, for instance for the procurement of equipment and the posting of teachers.

A separate allocation has been set aside for the subsidisation of organisations beyond the borders, and they will also assist priests and ministers who look after the spiritual growth of congregations living in diaspora communities.

He confirmed: all Hungarians, no matter which part of the world they live in, will always have somewhere to come home to.

He highlighted that „there are terrible conditions” in Venezuela, and the situation of Hungarians who are otherwise well-off has become untenable. They must be enabled to come back home to Hungary, he said, even offering urgent naturalisation or the issuance of settlement permits to their non-Hungarian spouses.

He mentioned among the forms of assistance the urgent naturalisation of degrees, the provision of support in finding jobs, and language learning possibilities.

For those who feel that they must leave, Hungary will provide help to return home, Mr Semjén laid down, adding: there is a Hungarian community in the thousands in Venezuela, and in his view some 100 families are considering coming back to Hungary.

He indicated that Hungary has its one millionth new Hungarian citizen. At present, the number of registered new citizens stands at one million one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine. He believes it is possible that the oath-taking ceremony will take place on 5 December.

Minister of State for Nation Policy Árpád János Potápi pointed out: 111 organisations from around the world were invited to attend the meeting of the Diaspora Council, and eventually 91 of them were represented at the meeting.

The meeting will finish with a closing statement in the afternoon which will, as expected, lay down that the programmes that started a few years ago will continue. The attendees will express their solidarity with Hungarian schools in Transcarpathia on account of the new Ukrainian language legislation, and will also support the Minority SafePack initiative.

(MTI)