Csango roundtable on language use and practicing religion
Teaching the Hungarian language in Moldova and the possibility of the Csangos to practice their religion in Hungarian was the main subject of the roundtable held at the Summer University at Tuşnad on Wednesday, July 3rd.
The discussion saw speakers presenting the situation of the Csango community in Moldova from different perspectives. Adrián Solomon, president of the Association of Csango Hungarians in Moldova (ACHM) spoke about the results education program that has been active for ten years and has provided many thousands of young people with the opportunity to learn the Hungarian language. Father Lajos Berszán emphasized the importance of practicing religion in Hungarian for the Csango community and pointed out that this can be the cornerstone of preserving Hungarian identity in Moldova.
Éva Ferencz, educational representative in the ACHM said that the Hungarian education programme in Moldova will keep facing difficulties until Hungarians will keep hearing that they don’t need to learn Hungarian during religious sermons. László Diószegi, president of the Teleki László Foundation stated that regular Hungarian sermons will not be a reality until there will be an agreement between the Hungarian and Romanian churches. Poet Laura Iancu expressed her regret that the EU’s and the European Councils charters are only binding for the member states, not to the churches as well and do not constitute legal basis for the practice of religion in minority languages.
DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor reminded that through the 2001 recommendations of the European Council, Romania has been given the task of supporting the Csangos: the state must provide opportunities for mother tongue education and practice of the Roman Catholic religion. He also pointed out that Romania ratified the European Charter for Minority and Regional Languages and that since December 2009 the Lisbon treaty also support usage of minority languages. „All these will be applied correctly when we manage to convince the majority that it is in their own interest to protect the Hungarian language because multilingualism is a European value” – said Csaba Sógor.
The MEP continued saying that, in order to improve the situation of the Csangos, one of the main concerns of the future should be the rehabilitation of the Hungarian language’s prestige by opening cultural, educational and information points. He also reminded of the European statistics about minority languages: there are fifty endangered languages in Europe, 37 highly endangered ones, six dying and eleven dead languages. „Under such circumstances, our job is to keep the hardships of the Csango community on the agenda” – said the MEP.
Éva Ferencz, educational representative in the ACHM said that the Hungarian education programme in Moldova will keep facing difficulties until Hungarians will keep hearing that they don’t need to learn Hungarian during religious sermons. László Diószegi, president of the Teleki László Foundation stated that regular Hungarian sermons will not be a reality until there will be an agreement between the Hungarian and Romanian churches. Poet Laura Iancu expressed her regret that the EU’s and the European Councils charters are only binding for the member states, not to the churches as well and do not constitute legal basis for the practice of religion in minority languages.
DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor reminded that through the 2001 recommendations of the European Council, Romania has been given the task of supporting the Csangos: the state must provide opportunities for mother tongue education and practice of the Roman Catholic religion. He also pointed out that Romania ratified the European Charter for Minority and Regional Languages and that since December 2009 the Lisbon treaty also support usage of minority languages. „All these will be applied correctly when we manage to convince the majority that it is in their own interest to protect the Hungarian language because multilingualism is a European value” – said Csaba Sógor.
The MEP continued saying that, in order to improve the situation of the Csangos, one of the main concerns of the future should be the rehabilitation of the Hungarian language’s prestige by opening cultural, educational and information points. He also reminded of the European statistics about minority languages: there are fifty endangered languages in Europe, 37 highly endangered ones, six dying and eleven dead languages. „Under such circumstances, our job is to keep the hardships of the Csango community on the agenda” – said the MEP.
