Hungarian American Coalition News, 2004 (13. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)
2004 / 2. szám
Percentage of the Hungarian minorities in the Carpathian Basin (around 1990) Maps based on Károly Kocsis and Eszter Kocsis-Hodosi ’s “Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin" Yet while we cannot expect improvement in the legal status of minorities within the Union, a transformation is still possible, one that may mitigate the onerous consequences of Trianon. One of Trianon's most tangible consequences remains an urgent problem to this day: newly drawn state borders that took no heed of economic rationality ruined economic regions. Consequently, for more than 80 years, Hungarians living along the borders have been impoverished, burdened by joblessness, forced migration, and government neglect and depredation in the territories detached from Hungary. Today, accession to the Union provides a chance for linking these regional economies and restarting the natural development of these regions. With the European Union, the character of state borders will change: the customs frontier disappears, and the border’s strict political nature is transmuted into an administrative one. For decades, Hungarian writers have warned of factors that endanger the cultural and educational unity of our segmented nation, and of the circumstances that are threatening its identity. In the regions entering the EU, many of these impediments to cultural reintegration will disappear. Cultural and educational institutions will again be allowed to develop in natural symbiosis, regardless of borders. In these new circumstances, it is possible that the main issue facing ethnic Hungarians will no longer be how to integrate into the country of which they are citizens, or how well they master the state language forced upon them, but rather, how they can retake their place in Hungarian culture and European civilization. The ethnic Hungarian citizen will not speak Slovene or Slovak under compulsion, but out of courtesy to Slovene or Slovak neighbors. It is also entirely possible that Hungarians will learn the language or culture of their neighbors because they like to read Slovene or Slovak poetry in the original. Or that they will learn the language, because they could (with a Swiss-like mindset) expect 4 - Hungarian American Coalition - June 2004
