According to Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, “the fault is not at our end” end if Romanian-Hungarian relations are still not as good as they should be. Mr. Semjén was speaking at a podium discussion on national politics at the 28th Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp in Tusnádfürdő (Tuşnad, Romania), in which representatives of the Hungarian Government and every part of the nation participated.

In his review of national politics, Mr. Semjén said: “The fact that the cultural autonomy of the Hungarian Community in Serbia has reached the realisation stage should serve as a positive example to all parts of the Hungarian nation”. “Hungary and the Hungarian minority have overstepped the historical scars and have established a sincere peace and compromise with Serbia, and the two countries have also established a trusted, friendly and close cooperation internationally”, he said. “If we succeeded in achieving this with Serbia, I don’t think the fault is at our end if we cannot do the same with Romania”, Mr. Semjén stated.

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The Deputy Prime Minister cited as another example the fact that Slovakian soldiers were also involved in protecting the Hungarian border within the framework of Visegrád Group (V4) cooperation, and that Slovakia had sent Hungarian-speaking soldiers to Hungary. “I don’t believe it’s our fault that a similar level of cooperation has not developed with Romania”, he added.

With relation to these examples, Mr. Semjén said the various parts of the Hungarian nation are not just responsible for themselves, but for the whole Hungarian nation, because whatever happens to one part of the nation also affects the others.

“The point and goal of the Hungarian state is to ensure the continued existence of the Hungarian nation, and to improve the standard of living of Hungarians. The Hungarian nation can only continue to exist if all the parts of the nation continue to exist. For this reason, it is absolutely natural for the home country to support the cross-border parts of the nation and the Hungarian diaspora throughout the world”, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

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The first traditional pillar of funding is education, culture and support for maintaining identity. The Government has increased the funding for this purpose tenfold since 2010, with a current level of funding of 90 billion forints (EUR 295 million). Hungary now has the economic strength to not only support the maintaining of a Hungarian cultural identity, but also to spend a similar amount on ensuring that cross-border Hungarians can make a living in the land of their birth, Mr. Semjén explained.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the third factor of national policy was the unification of the nation according to public law and the expansion of Hungarian citizenship, explaining that in his opinion “This is a steel hoops that keeps the Hungarian nation together in addition to their cultural identity”.

“Voting rights mean that the political will of cross-border Hungarians is also represented in Hungary’s National Assembly”, he said, explaining that he believes this is important because it will continue to enable cross-border Hungarians to force the Hungarian Government to take the cross-border parts of the nation seriously even in a hundred years’ time.

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Mr. Semjén said the support of cross-border Hungarian organisations was also important, explaining that the extent to which Hungarian organisation are represented in the Parliaments or are part of the government coalitions of neighbouring countries was highly important. “In order for the rights of Hungarian minorities to be fully represented, it important that there should be as many Hungarians as possible at the highest possible levels of local and national government”, he declared.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the funding provided by the Hungarian Government acted as a catalyst, adding that the personal contacts, friendships and relationships that develop at Bálványos and other similar events represent the true for for keeping people in place.

Mr. Semjén also reacted to a statement criticising the awarding of voting rights to cross-border Hungarian by socialist politician Ildikó Lendvai, recalling that at the time the Government had not supported the socialist proposal to award cross-border Hungarians citizenship without voting rights, and thus make them “second-class citizens”. “Ildikó Lendvai is fluttering around in Hungarian internal politics like the iron-nosed witch Baba Yaga in a magnetic storm”, he added.

(MTI)