Hungarian commissioner of Hungary’s Prime Minister for the issue of the autonomy of Hungarians living abroad, Katalin Szili, spoke in an interview with the Bihari Napló daily, published on Wednesday about the collaboration between the Hungarian political parties and organizations in Transylvania and their objectives, MTI, quoted by Rador.

In Katalin Szili’s opinion, Hungarian political parties and organizations in Transylvania have to pull out of naphthalene and update together the law project of minorities, which has been stalled for over a decade in the Romanian Parliament, and should also work on the Law on Education.

According to the commissioner, Hungarian lawmakers can support a point of view in the Romanian legislation, which is to support the entire Hungarian community.

Katalin Szili recalled: a year ago, Hungarian parties in Transylvania signed a joint declaration stating that in areas where the Hungarian population is the majority, it must be ensured territorial autonomy, and in the rest of the areas inhabited by Hungarians, cultural autonomy.

The commissioner also recalled: The draft Law on the Autonomy of the Szekler Land, elaborated by the DAHR and the Hungarian Civic Party (PCM), resembles the one elaborated by the Szekler National Council (CNS). Katalin Szili believes that there are two major differences between the two concepts.

One is that in the CNS’s view the territorial autonomy must be given to the Szekler Land, while the DAHR and PCM project stipulates that the autonomous area should include the current Mureş, Covasna and Harghita counties, where in some parts the majority population is Romanian.

The second difference is that the DAHR considers that a change in the Romanian Constitution is necessary in order for autonomy to be granted, and the CNS does not.

Szili is of the opinion that an important result of moderate meetings by her is that, through the joint declaration signed last January, the parties agreed that autonomy must be thought for the boundaries of the historic Szekler Land.

On the issue of amending the Constitution, Szili believes that “this must be decided when we have already reached the bridge, so let’s pass it when we even manage to establish a dialogue with the Romanian majority.”

Katalin Szili reminded that it would also be important to increase the degree of collaboration of the local administrations of the localities where the Hungarian population is the majority, as this is not prohibited by either the Romanian or the EU laws.

The Prime Minister’s commissioner considers that the taking over of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union by Romania is advantageous given that it offers the opportunity for the Romanian Government to admit: the Hungarian community does not want to break with Romania, but wants to achieve within the state Romanian Self-determination and Self-Government, based on the principle of subsidiarity declared by the EU.

“I ask nothing else from the Romanian Government, from the Romanian state, than to look at the leaders of the Hungarian community as partners and at least sit down to talk with them and clarify the notions” – Katalin Szili said in the interview for ” Bihari Napló “.

Source: G4Media (Translation TFP)