RIGHTS-HUNGARY: New Discrimination Not All Positive

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Béla Ladányi

BUDAPEST, Jul 29 2003 (IPS) - After nearly two years of negotitations, Hungarian minorities are now likely to be given controversial new rights in Romania and Slovakia.

Romania is due to approve implementation of a Status Law which provides education benefits to ethnic Hungarians. Hungarian Foreign Minister László Kovács and his Romanian counterpart Mircea Geoana signed an agreement on implementation of the law in Romanian capital Bucharest July 18.

The law would give ethnic Hungarian students and teachers in Romania the right to apply for Hungarian financial support for education projects and courses in both countries. They would apply through the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ).

"It was an important step both in providing support to Hungarians living in Romania and also in the improvement of Hungarian-Romanian relations," Kovács said. The agreement is due to be signed by the Hungarian and Romanian prime ministers in August or early September.

Kovács held lengthy talks with Slovakian Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan in Bratislava a day after the signing ceremony in Bucharest. But the two agreed only to work further on an agreement which would allow implementation of similar education benefits in Slovakia.

"It is true that Slovakia has not agreed to implementation of the law, but I think Hungary managed to achieve support for benefits in Slovakia," Kovács said..

Hungary considers its recent agreements in Romania and Slovakia a breakthrough in implementation of the Status Law approved by its parliament in June 2001.

The law is intended to support more than three million Hungarians living in neighbouring countries, including about 1.5 million in Romania and half a million in Slovakia. These people became minorities in other countries after Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory under the peace treaties after World War I. The law entitles ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovenia and Austria to an annual three-month work permit in Hungary, education, medical care, pension benefits and substantial railway travel discounts. But the law has come under heavy fire from Romanian and Slovakian authorities as well as the European Union. Governments of neighbouring countries said the law violates their sovereignty and creates inequality among its citizens on ethnic grounds. The Council of Europe, a grouping of 45 nations that seeks to monitor rights and to standardize legal procedures across Europe, urged Hungary to amend the law because it was considered inconsistent with European principles of non-discrimination.

Through several modifications in recent years, Austria was removed from the target list of the law. Some of the planned benefits of the Status Law were either scrapped or offered under different legislation.

Earlier efforts to modify the law were not sufficient, and the law could therefore not be implemented, Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and Slovakian Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said at a joint press meeting in Bratislava in March this year.

"I have the impression that we are dealing here more with problems coming from the 19th century, and I believe that we all have a duty, by cooperating with the Hungarian government and with European organisations, to find a solution to close this chapter as fast as possible," Nastase was cited as saying in March by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

In June, the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe said benefits should be offered through a bilateral rather than unilateral approach. It said the form and substance of the benefits should be acceptable to the neighbouring countries.

Erik Jürgens, a member of the Council of Europe, said in a report that benefits such as work permits and social security are discriminatory because other citizens of the neighbouring countries are excluded. Officials echoed that criticism during talks ahead of the recent agreements in Romania and Slovakia.

Conservative opposition parties say Hungary may achieve implementation of the Status Law in Slovakia and Romania, but only through unnecessary compromise and losing some of the goals of the original version of the law.

The Hungarian government is convinced that the recent agreements will help distribution of benefits among ethnic Hungarians living abroad and also have a positive effect on bilateral relations with Slovakia and Romania.