Sógor: The issue of self-governance must be kept on the agenda
„Once again, Hungarians in Romania had to face the fact that their country’s leadership does not take their needs into account. There are several well functioning models of minority self-governance all over the world. My proposition was a possible form of this self governance, but it seems that we are not even ready to have theoretical debates on the subject,” said DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor regarding today’s decision of the Romanian Senate to reject the legislative proposal concerning the autonomy of Szeklerland, a legislative initiative signed by former MP Dezső Becsek-Garda and former senator Csaba Sógor in 2005.
The Chamber of Deputies rejected the proposition in the same year, but the Senate, the deciding house in the matter, only put it on agenda today and rejected the proposal with 54 votes against, 2 abstentions and 5 votes in favour. The Senate cast its vote based on reports from the government and its committees. The reports deemed the proposal unconstitutional in the fields of sovereignty, public administration and the use of national symbols, hence the senators voted without even having a debate on the subject.
“The autonomy has been on DAHR’s agenda since 1993 and we have been trying to get our Romanian colleagues accustomed to the idea ever since. We do this both in Bucharest and Brussels, we speak about the importance and usefulness of minority self governance, we try to keep people’s needs on the agenda, but I see that we still have much to do. Today’s vote was a reminder of this fact,” concluded Csaba Sógor.
“The autonomy has been on DAHR’s agenda since 1993 and we have been trying to get our Romanian colleagues accustomed to the idea ever since. We do this both in Bucharest and Brussels, we speak about the importance and usefulness of minority self governance, we try to keep people’s needs on the agenda, but I see that we still have much to do. Today’s vote was a reminder of this fact,” concluded Csaba Sógor.
