- Sajtóközlemény
After a fruitful FUEN Presidium and Team meeting held in Berlin on September 5-6, which primarily focused on the MSPI campaign, President Loránt Vincze, accompanied by his advisor István Szilágyi visited Croatia and Slovenia. They had several meetings with European, minority and state representatives from both countries, including the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities, the President of the Slovenian Parliament, the Hungarian Ambassador in Slovenia, Presidents of FUEN Member Organisations and Members of Parliament representing national minorities.
On Thursday the president of the FUEN met with the leaders of the Democratic Hungarian Community of Croatia (HMDK). President Jakab Sándor and Member of the Croatian Parliament on behalf of the Hungarian community Mr Róbert Jankovics assured FUEN of their support in the Minority SafePack Initiative’s petition campaign. Participants at the meeting held in Eszék agreed: it is in the interest of every minority to protect and broaden their rights, and minority rights ought to be guaranteed by the European Union. A meeting with the representatives of all minorities in Croatia and of the Government of the country will take place in Zagreb in the near future.
In the afternoon Mr. Vincze was present at a conference organsed by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, entitled The situation of the German minorities in Central Europe, and spoke about minority rights on a European level. Hartmut Koschyk, Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities, AGDM-Speaker Bernard Gaida, AGDM-Coordinator Renata Trischler, and president of several German organisations were present at the event that proved to be a good opportunity to learn more about the situation of these communities, most of them which are members of the FUEN and the AGDM. The president of the FUEN also talked about the need to cooperate on the Minority SafePack Initiative, which aims to create a minority protection system in the EU.
The president of the FUEN stated that despite the significant improvements on the protection of minority rights in the last decades – a good example being Croatia – this is not a one-way street, as deprivations of existing rights can always occur. Loránt Vincze stressed: “We need to strongly condemn the amendment of the Ukrainian law for education which states that middle- and high school education should be organised in the Ukrainian language only, and the mother tongue of minorities should merely be used in preschool and primary school.” In his opinion it is not acceptable that state authorities and the judiciary made the existence of a Hungarian Catholic School in Tirgu-Mures, Romania impossible despite the fact that the ownership of the building where the school resides was cleared.
On Friday, September 8th, the FUEN delegation met HE Szilágyiné Bátorfi Edit, Ambassador of Hungary in Ljubljana and talked about the role of the kin-state in the life of minority communities abroad. The Ambassador confirmed that Hungary fully supports the Hungarian and all European minorities in their endeavours.
This was followed by another high-level meeting with Dr. Milan Brglez, President of the Slovenian Parliament, who ensured FUEN of his support for the Minority SafePack petition campaign in Slovenia. The parties also discussed the perspective of recognition for the German minority living in the country.
It was good to see that the minorities from Slovenia are motivated and ready for the Minority SafePack petition campaign. In Ljubjana the FUEN delegates had a meeting with Member of the Slovenian Parliament on behalf of the Hungarian community Mr László Göncz and Andrea Bortole, the representative of the Italian minority. They both proposed a strong support for the Minority SafePack Initiative in the Slovenian Parliament. Later during the day, in Lendava, Loránt Vincze met Ferenc Horváth, President of the Hungarian Self-Governing Ethnic Community of Pomurje, MMÖNK and the Presidency of the organisation. At the meeting the FUEN President stressed the need for the European Union to take the issues of minorities more seriously, to share the responsibility regarding minority rights with the Member States. “We aim for a European level guarantee for minority rights and the sharing of best practices” – concluded Loránt Vincze.
