December 2004

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HUNGARY CITIZENSHIP VOTE RAISES CONTROVERSY (Divers Bulletin)

December 2004 — On 6th December Hungary voted in a referendum on whether to grant citizenship to up to 5 million ethnic Hungarians living outside the country, of which around half live in Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. However, the referendum may be annulled since the participation did not reach the 50% (the percentage needed in order to be valid). The scrutiny made at the end of the electoral session showed a discordant result: 51,3% votes for the Hungarian citizenship and 48,6% against the initiative.

The referendum was backed by Hungary's right wing opposition party, alleging that it could close the old sore originated with the loss of two thirds of the Hungarian territory after the First World War. Nevertheless, Hungarian left wing parties are against the dual nationality proposal, fearing a massive return of the Hungarian minority, who live today in neighbouring countries such as Romania. Actually, the issue of citizenship is especially sensitive for Romania, as nearly 1.5 million ethnic Hungarians live there, most of them in Transylvania.

According to the information given by Divers Bulletin, precisely Romania's Prime Minister criticised Hungary's proposal to grant citizenship to ethnic Hungarians abroad. “This is an insanity. That's an idea rather belonging to the 19th century," said Adrian Nastase, whose country has a substantial Hungarian minority. Nastase's comments were contested by Hungarian Foreign Minister Ferenc Somogyi as well as by the Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. Actually, Mr. Somogyi said that the Hungarian Foreign Ministry had received a letter from Romania's Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana saying ethnic Hungarians would have to renounce Romanian citizenship if they chose Hungarian citizenship.

The Hungarian political party in Romania, the Hungarian Democratic Union, said it was not upset by Nastase's remarks and would likely continue to support his party in the parliament. It was in coalition with Nastase's last government and backs a "yes" vote for Hungarian citizenship. "We're not offended by Nastase's statements nor by Geoana's letter," party executive vice-president Laszlo Borbely said. Now, with the elections in Romania together, the two parties would have 154 out of 332 lower parliament seats and would need to get support from most of 18 other representatives of various ethnic minorities to form a government.