Romanians Subject To Discrimination By Magyar Auth In C Romania –President

“I would like the Magyar voters not to think that this minority has been abandoned, once the Magyar Democratic Union in Romania has not entered the government. Perhaps it’s time the government proved it can well defend the interest of the Magyar minorities, even if the Union is not part of the ruling coalition,” Basescu said.

He told the Government that this translates into paying attention to the infrastructure in Harghita and Covasna and to the way the leaders of the decentralized institutions in the country are appointed.

“There are politicians of the Magyar Democratic Union in Romania who used the decentralized institutions as if they owned them. This reality cannot give the right to Magyar politicians to instigate against the Government and claim that it plans to replace any Romanian citizen in leadership positions in the counties Harghita and Covasna,” Basescu said.

He added he made this statement “not for political reasons, but based on a thorough knowledge of reality”.

He asked the Government to replace the people in the positions that “need to be changed, and not discriminate between Magyar ethnics and Romanians”.

He warned that in the mayoralties headed by Magyar ethnics, Romanians are often discriminated.

“You must find a balance between these things and they must be solved with wisdom. Article 1 of the Constitution should be the starting point, which should be observed by the leaders of the Magyar Democratic Union in Romania and by the Magyar Civic Union. Romania is a national, unitary, sovereign and independent state. We cannot speak of territorial autonomy. And this must be explained over and over,” Basescu told the Government.

Executive president of the Magyar Democratic Union in Romania,  Kelemen Hunor, told a press conference on Friday that the Union has used political means to appoint managers in the decentralized institutions, but if the current ruling coalition replaces them only on political criteria, that would affect ethnic balance.