2019-02-17

“In the recent years, we kept the question of minority protection on the European agenda. Our goal hasn’t changed yet: we are continuing to fight for a common European framework for minority protection. Today, more and more people join us and call for the need to regulate minority protection at a European level, moreover, 1.3 million signatures draw the attention of the European decision-makers”- said Csaba Sógor on Sunday at the Protestant Theological Institute of Cluj Napoca/Kolozsvár.


Due to a long practiced tradition, the Protestant Theological Institute launches the second semester with silent devotional days. In this context, the Reformed, Unitarian and Lutheran students can discuss different topics with guest speakers. In his presentation entitled Quo Vadis, Europe? (Where is Europe going?) Csaba Sógor RMDSZ MEP spoke to students on the EU’s current challenges.

He explained that nowadays a lots of questions puts Europe on a crossroad: to find a solution for the consequences of Brexit, to pay more attention on fighting against terrorism, on the humanitarian and political crisis caused by migration. All this has to be solved in a tough situation, as the gap between the East and West is perceived to be deep. On the top of that, according to Csaba Sógor, there is still no reassuring response in Europe to the phenomenon of aging and, likewise, we still talk too little about the effects of climate change.
 
RMDSZ MEP continued: along these problems it is not easy to keep the important issues of Hungarians in Transylvania - including minority rights - on the EU agenda. Especially with Romanian MEPs doing utmost everything to make the EU believe: minority rights are broadly guaranteed.

“We constantly have to repeat in the European Union, that our rights recorded in law do not prevail entirely in practice, the use of the mother tongue, teaching on the mother tongue and the use of symbols in the Hungarian community in Romania are still obstructed. These practices show that minority protection cannot be left to the Member States alone, but protection at a European level is needed” - explained the MEP.