Hungarian American Coalition News, 2006 (15. évfolyam, 1. szám)
2006 / 1. szám
The Europe Agreement4, establishing an association between the European Economic Communities and their future Member States, stressed the “need to continue and complete, with the assistance of the Community, Romania’s transition towards a new political and economic system which respects the rule of law and human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.” As a result of the parliamentary elections in November 1996, the DAHR joined the new governmental coalition, and for the first time in Romanian history, the government included ministers from a party representing the interests of the Hungarian minority. Romania was also the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to adopt a Law on Anti-discrimination, Furthermore, the Institution of Ombudsman^ was established and Laws on Public Administration and Education6 were amended in order to provide linguistic rights for minorities. After the elections in 2000, the DAHR made a political alliance with the party in power, the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Although the DAHR did not appoint any ministers to the cabinet, they helped ensure a stable government through the Agreement on co-operation between the Social Democratic Party and the DAHR in 2002, which stipulated that “the two political parties shall continue to grant priority to the protection of national minorities, institutional and legislative development of their issues.”7 During this cabinet’s mandate, the new Law on Public Administration was adopted which provides for the use of minority languages in administrative-territorial units where a minority represents at least 20% of the population. In addition, the National Council against Discrimination, a specialized body for implementation of the equality principle and enforcement of non-discrimination legislation, was established in 2001. New provisions regarding linguistic rights were included in 2002 in the new Law regarding the Status of Policepersons9 and the new Law on Media10. In October 2003, the Romanian Constitution amendments stated that the use of native language, both in relations with public administration and in the Courts, became constitutional principles under the terms stipulated by organic law. Article 73, paragraph 3, of the new Constitution ruled that the Parliament passes organic laws including the law on the status of national minorities. (There are three types of Romanian law: Constitutional, Ordinary, and Organic. An organic law regulates specific issues according to the Romanian Constitution). The Romanian Government’s Agenda for 2004- 2008" Since the November 2004 elections, the Romanian parliament is divided between the center-right DA (PNL-PD) Alliance and the PSD, each of which hold between 30-40% of the seats in each chamber. The DA Alliance, however, forged a parliamentary majority with the support of the PC, the DAHR, and (in the lower house) the other ethnic minority party representatives. The new Romanian government, in its Governmental Program for 2004-2008, stated among its main objectives to carry/out a policy that enables preservation, affirmation and development of ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities. The new governmental coalition, formed by the PNL, PD, DAHR and PC in November 2004 also agreed to initiate the following laws: • The Law on the Status of National Minorities in Romania; • A suitable juridical framework for the organization and function of the institutional system of national minorities according to Article 73, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, enabling the representatives of national minorities to set up and lead cultural and educational institutions in their native language for the purpose of creating the legal framework for cultural autonomy Hungarian American Coalition - June 2006 - 3
