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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 92 (2013) 426 - 431
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Minority Issues at the End of the 20th Century and the Beginning of the 21th Century. Case Study: The Hungarian Minority from
Romania
Adrian Liviu Ivana, Claudia Anamaria Iova*
_a Babe§-Bolyai University, M.Kogalniceanu, No.1, Cluj-Napoca, 400084, Romania_
Abstract
Currently, minorities are present in all countries, especially in developed countries in terms of economy; but the main economic, social, educational and security problems when it comes to majority-minority relations are registered in less developed ones, in states in transition. This paper deals with some of the key issues in the inclusion of national minorities in political, social and economic life in Romania. We chose Romania as case study, a state that after the fall of communism took a series of measures to solve the problem of national and ethnic minorities, especially for the Hungarian minority, which has been most active in claiming educational, social, economic, political and religious rights.
The paper explores problems of national minorities' participation and underlines the importance of the review of the legal framework and its ability to tackle problems more successfully. Regarding participation of national minorities in political, social, economic life in general and in public administration, in particular, there are two contradictory opinions. It is stated in all official documents that national minorities are enjoying all rights and privileges. On the other hand, representatives of national minorities argue that their rights are left on paper only.
© 2013TheAuthors.Published byElsevierLtd.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Lumen Research Center in Social and Humanistic Sciences, Asociatia Lumen. Keywords: Ethnic minorities, national minorities, governance, public administration, education law, local election law
1. Introduction
The concept of security gained new insights at the end of the Cold War as its not so obvious mililitary dimension was being outshadowed by problematic aspects such as environmental concerns, the fight against the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 0040-264-405300; fax: 0040 264 - 59.19.06. E-mail address: adrian_ivan2007@yahoo.com / claudia.iov@ubbcluj.ro
1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Lumen Research Center in Social and Humanistic Sciences, Asociatia Lumen. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.08.696
traffic of drugs and human beings, as well as by the outburst of a series of radical nationalistic movements which generated conflict even in Europe.
The end of the Cold War, which was followed by the downfall of the Soviet Union and the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe open an new horizon, full of incertitudes and new threats. The reference here is being made to conflicts of different intensities and settled through non-political and diplomatic means. Although these types of issues are firmly rooted in either territorial or economic grounds it is obvious that the wide majority of these antagonisms share a nationalistic dimension. The issues raised by ethnic and national minorities have represented and still represent a powerful brake on the general reorganisation of Europe and, implicitely, of the European security.
The research is based on the following hypothesis: The majority of the countries in Central and SouthEastern Europe have engajed on the path of democracy, by adhering to the principles of pluralism and of the legitimacy. The cornerstone of their democratic commitments is precisely their desiring of a peaceful coexistence of the different ethnic groups within the same state and a fair treatment to be applied to minority groups.Yet, the anti-communist revolutions that took place in Estern Europe at the beginning of the 1990s were shortly followed by the appearence of exacerbated nationalistic processes, which were contrary to the abovementioned desire of peaceful cohexistence and further increased the fear of a total nationalism - as the distinguished French politologist Marisol Touraine put it (Touraine ,1995, p.58).
The aim of this research is to prove that: states, in Central and South-Eastern Europe, were facing two challenges: on one side, the transition from a centralised economy to a market-oriented one and, on the other side, there were the demandings formulated by ethnic groups (our analyzis will focus only on the second challenge). In order to prove this hypothesis, we chose Romania as case study, a state that after the fall of communism took a series of measures to solve the problem of national and ethnic minorities, especially for the Hungarian minority, which has been most active in claiming educational, social, economic, political and religious rights.
2. Minorities in Romania at the end of the XXth century and the beginning of the XXIth century
Romania was considered, at the beginning of the '90s, as one of the countries facing huge problems in the domain of ethnic minorities. However, it has managed to gradually surpass all obstacles that could have endangered its political stability and the region balance. A great number of analists still consider Romania a great risk as far as minorities are concerned, especially the Transylvanian region.
Apart from the socio-economic importance of Transylvania, the region also had a symbolic value both for the Romanians and the Hungarians. The Romanians consider Transylvania as the cradle of birth of the Romanian people, while the Hungarians associate it with the birth and development of the modern Hungarian culture. Therefore, there was a general assumption that the ethnic tensions existing even before 1989 would escalate and turn Transylvania into a major risk area. The events that occured during the first few months of the year 1990, especially the ones that took place in March in Targu Mure§, seemed to validate the analists' evaluations.
During the following years, Romania managed to prevent a more acute turn of the crisis and to elaborate a stategy intented to solve the minority issue in general and that of the Hungarian one in particular. Eventually this led to the establishment of normal cohabitation relations between the Romanian majority and the Hungarian minority and to better neighbourhood relations between Romania and Hungary. This outcoming required maximum efforts deployed both by the Romanian state and the Hungarian minority, considering the pronounced emotional load of this type of problems (Bellet, 1997, p.132).
For the past several years there has been a lot of talking about the Romanian model of interethnic cohabitation. For a better comprehension of the results obtained in the process, we will analyze the legal framework for the protection of the ethnic/national minority groups in Romania emphasizing the way the Romanian legislation suports the active participation of national minorities in political, social, economic life, in general and in public administration, in particular. In order to prove our theory, we subjected to analyze the
involvement of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians from Romania (Uniunea Democrata a Maghiarilor din Romania) in Romania's political life and the role played in the adoption of the current Education Law.
3. The legal framework for the protection of minorities in Romania
The legal framework for the protection of minorities was first stipulated in the Romanian Constitution from December 9, 1991. The Constitution strongly asserts the national, sovereign, independent, unitarian and indivisible character of the Romanian state. Article 6 of the Costitution stipulates that "The State recognizes and guarantees the right of persons belonging to national minorities, to the preservation, development and expression of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity" (Institutional and Legal Romanian Framework for national minorities, 1994, p.9). In Article 32, the State guarantees the right of persons belonging to national minorities to learn their mother tongue and the right to be educated in this language" (Ibidem, p.11). The same Article states that the state guarantees to persons belonging to national minorities the right to learn and be educated in their mother tongue. The Article 33 guarantees the right of association, if the associations' aims are not contrary to the purposes of political pluralism, state sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity or the rule of law. Romania has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which are recognized and respected the fundamental and inalienable rights of all minorities, including also the Hungarians ethnics. The legal framework for minorities is complemented by the Law 48 in January 2002, an example which proves the commitment of the Romanian state for ethnic minorities and ensures protection of all fundamental rights of their members (Ungheanu, 2009, p.3). The law provides equality between citizens excludes the privileges and combat all forms of discrimination.
According to the 2011 census, the Hungarian community in Romania counts 1.237.746 members, that is approximately 6,5 % of the entire population, and most of them are located in the region of Transylvania. According to the National Institute for Statistics, in 2011, the Hungarian minority constitutes the majority of the population in two counties: Harghita (84,8% - 258.615) and Covasna (73,6% - 151.787) and represents a high percentage in the following counties: Mure§ (37,8% - 200.989), Satu Mare (34,5% - 113.541), Bihor (25,2% -138.441), Salaj (23,2%-50.659) and Cluj (19,4% - 103.457). The Hungarian community is politically represented by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians from Romania that had participated in all local and legislative elections after 1990.
3.1. The Democratic Union of Hungarians from Romania
The Democratic Union of Hungarians from Romania is an organization with a cultural platform, unregistered, legally, as a political party (according to Law no. 14/2003, Chapter IV.) but who participate in local and general elections under Article 62 (2) of the Romanian Constitution and in accordance with Article 4 paragraph 2 of Law 68/1992, which equated national minority organizations to political party organizations from the standpoint of the electoral process. Article 59 (2) of the Constitution, concerning the election of Parliament's chambers, establishes a law under which declared national minorities, have automatic representation:" organizations of national minorities, which fail to obtain the number of votes for representation in Parliament, are entitled, under the electoral law, to one Deputy seat each." This right was recognized and guaranteed by the Local Election Law number 70/1991, which states in Article 2 that the Romanian citizens, irrespective of nationality, race, language, religion, sex, political belief or profession equally exercise their electoral rights .
The Union is strongly represented in local governments, since 2004, when it was ranked 4th in local elections after the main political parties in Romania, namely the Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party and National Liberal Party. At the 2004 elections, on its lists were elected 189 mayors, 111 local county councilors and 2488 advisers. The number of local elected ethnic Hungarian felt at the 2008 elections, when on its list were elected
184 mayors (in several cities with a majority Romanian population like Satu Mare, Reghin, Jimbolia, Marghita), 89 county councilors, 2195 city councilors, but winning four seats of presidents of county councils, namely: Covasna, Harghita, Mures and Satu Mare.
4. The Education Law
One of the most highly debated issues early on, in the winter of 1996, was that of education in mother-tongue. The Hungarian minority enjoyed this right under communism as well, namely for primary, secondary, high-school and partly university education (the pedagogical universities and partially artistic and medical education). In the 1980s, the communist regime tried to force certain constraints upon this right, by establishing Romanian language forms within strong tradition Hungarian high-schools, whereas Hungarian university education was conditioned by the number of existing students (a minimum of seven). The first reaction of Hungarian minorities in the winter of 1990 envisioned these constraints. As occurred in Cluj, Romanian forms were radically and brutally removed from traditional Hungarian high-schools, in the middle of the school-year (in February 1990). A last such episode was recorded in February- March 2002, in Targu- Mure§, where the Romanian language forms of "Janos Farkas" high-school were going to be gradually eliminated, once the Romanian series graduated.
The text of the education law generated vivid controversies and polemics in 1994-1996. The Democratic Union of Hungarians from Romania proved to be the most close-mouthed political organization. Despite its internal isolation, the Union managed to cause a significant western reaction to its position. Following internal debates and the interventions of European institutions, the Education Law ensures the education of ethnic minorities in the Hungarian language at all levels (Education law 84/95, 1999, art.118-126). At the same time, minorities can establish and manage private education institutions, as stipulated by law (Education law 84/95, 1999, art. 123 (2)). For entrance and graduation exams, at all levels, candidates may employ the language of education (Education law 84/95, 1999, art 124).
Nevertheless, the education issue remained the cornerstone of the relation between the Romanian government and the Hungarian minority, for the following years.
A Department for the Protection of National Minorities was established in 1997, lead by a delegate of the prime-minister (a position held by a representative of the Democratic Union of Hungarians from Romania). The participation of this political formation in the governing process triggered the inclusion of certain objectives regarding school and linguistic autonomy in the Governing Program for the 1997-2000 period.
Two issues remained unsettled between 1997 and 2000, namely the establishement of a state university in Hungarian language and the compulsory education in Romanian language for certain subjects such as the geography and history of Romania (Eckstein Kovacs, 2000, p.30).
The positive evolution of Romania towards harmonising the interests of government, majority and national minority population, has been ackowledged by minority representatives as well as European institutions. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has ceased the monitoring of the committments taken by Romania upon its accession (Resolution 1123/1997) and restated on the 27th of May 1997 (Isarescu, 2000, p.24)
Adrian Nastase's government, set in following the 2000 elections, enjoyed the support of the Democratic Union of Hungarians from Romania, in exchange for a Hungarian minority friendly policy. The 215 Law from 2001 on public administration sets up the possibility for the minorities to express themselves using their own language before administrative bodies, where these minorities represent at least 20% of the population (Law 215/2001, 2001, art.17). In 2001, the private "Sapien^a" University opened its gates, in Miercurea Ciuc, but with a extension in Cluj-Napoca. This university, recognized by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research was mainly financed by the Hungarian government, as a result of the bilateral Romanian- Hungarian negotiations, where the Democratic Union of Hungarians from Romania played an essential part.
Newly enacted education law, which was applied starting 2012-2013 school years, brought a number of changes for national minorities. Starting with the first article, Article 45 Paragraph (A) from Section 12 -
Education for persons belonging to national minorities is stated that: "Persons belonging to minorities have the right to study and teach in their mother tongue at all levels, types and forms of pre-university education" (National Education Law, 2011)
The text of the Act provides that in schools with tuition in the languages of national minorities, one of the executives must be a teacher from the minorities, respecting the criteria of professional competences. In addition, for internal communication and communication with parents of preschool children it can also be used the teaching language.In addition, the law allows that qualifications of primary school pupils to be translated, so that Hungarian children, for example, will receive a "kielegit" instead of "satisfactory" and "Jol" instead of "good".
The provisions that made a major controversy of this law (if we talk about the rights for national minorities) are those related to the Hungarian directors of the Romanian schools from Transylvania or the textbooks imported from Hungary.
In fact, the Romanian Academy, through a report made by the European Centre for Ethnic Studies, at the request of the Senate, warned about the application that this law could lead to ethnic tensions and even enclavisation amplification in Harghita and Covasna counties (Nine A., Scarlat D., 2011). Till now, neither of these things happened.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that the Romanian model for interethnic relations is founded on a permanent dialogue between the government and minorities; respect for the legislation of the institutions dirrectly involved in protecting minorities and the acceptance of minorities as a partner of political dialogue for democratic consolidation. We have demonstrated, not only, that in Romania the national minorities are enjoying all rights and privileges but also that the Romanian legislation suports their active participation in political, social, economic life, in general and in public administration, in particular.
In our opinion, Romania has created the legal framework guaranteeing and ensuring the rights of national and ethnic minorities. Romania had in recent years, a constant positive trend in terms of comprehensive approach on protecting minorities, especially on anti-discrimination rules and support for minority rights. Even if there are still many things to be solved, we think that this country is on the right path regarding the protection of ethnic and national minorities.
Acknowledgements
Claudia Anamaria Iov- This work was possible with the financial support of the Sectoral Operational Programme of Human Resources Development 2007-2013, co-financed by the European Social Found, under the project number, P0SDRU/107/1.5/S/76841 with the title „Modern Doctoral Studies: Internationalization and Interdisciplinarity".
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