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Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
November 19, 2011 Saturday
BILL ON NATIONALITIES TO BE PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT
Budapest, November 19 (MTI) - The bill on nationalities to be
submitted to Parliament on Saturday will provide more rights to
national communities in Hungary and make it more difficult for these
rights to be abused, Deputy State Secretary of Justice and Public
Administration Csaba Latorcai told a news conference on Saturday.
The cardinal law, requiring a two-thirds majority in Parliament for
approval, will enable Hungary's national and ethnic communities to
express their cultural autonomy, he said.
Instead of speaking in terms of majority and minorities, the bill
defines the rights of nationalities, and highlights the values and
cultural characteristics that they contribute to the culture of
Hungary and of all Hungarians, he said.
The bill contains, among others, the following novelties as against
the 1993 law on national and ethnic minorities:
- from 2014 on, nationalities will only be authorised to elect a
council of their own in localities where at least 30 residents with
voting rights declared themselves during the previous census as
members of the community
- nationalities will have a right to win seats in the municipal
government under preferential terms
- the law will stipulate media rights, defining conditions for the
nationality to appear in the public media
Materials distributed to the press qualified the bill as "exemplary
for Europe as a whole", giving the nationalities stronger legitimacy
and granting them broader mother-tongue, cultural and educational
rights.
The new law will be in line with the new constitution, to take effect
on January 1, 2012, which declares that "the nationalities living with
us form part of the Hungarian political community and are constituent
parts of the state."
The bill identifies the following 13 nationalities with hundreds of
years of tradition in Hungary: Armenian, Bulgarian, Croat, German,
Greek, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian
and Ukrainian.
It defines the concepts of national community and the individual
belonging to a national community. Declaring oneself to belong to a
nationality is an individual right.
The bill defines as a new concept the cultural autonomy of the nationality.
It recognises as collective rights the fostering and enrichment of
historical traditions, language and culture, the use of the
nationality's personal and geographical names, educational rights, as
well as the right to establish and operate institutions and maintain
international contacts.
The bill declares that the state supports the collection of the
artifacts of cultural traditions, the foundation and operation of
public collections, publication of books, information of the community
about laws and statements of public interest in its mother tongue, and
church services in the national community's language.
November 19, 2011 Saturday
BILL ON NATIONALITIES TO BE PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT
Budapest, November 19 (MTI) - The bill on nationalities to be
submitted to Parliament on Saturday will provide more rights to
national communities in Hungary and make it more difficult for these
rights to be abused, Deputy State Secretary of Justice and Public
Administration Csaba Latorcai told a news conference on Saturday.
The cardinal law, requiring a two-thirds majority in Parliament for
approval, will enable Hungary's national and ethnic communities to
express their cultural autonomy, he said.
Instead of speaking in terms of majority and minorities, the bill
defines the rights of nationalities, and highlights the values and
cultural characteristics that they contribute to the culture of
Hungary and of all Hungarians, he said.
The bill contains, among others, the following novelties as against
the 1993 law on national and ethnic minorities:
- from 2014 on, nationalities will only be authorised to elect a
council of their own in localities where at least 30 residents with
voting rights declared themselves during the previous census as
members of the community
- nationalities will have a right to win seats in the municipal
government under preferential terms
- the law will stipulate media rights, defining conditions for the
nationality to appear in the public media
Materials distributed to the press qualified the bill as "exemplary
for Europe as a whole", giving the nationalities stronger legitimacy
and granting them broader mother-tongue, cultural and educational
rights.
The new law will be in line with the new constitution, to take effect
on January 1, 2012, which declares that "the nationalities living with
us form part of the Hungarian political community and are constituent
parts of the state."
The bill identifies the following 13 nationalities with hundreds of
years of tradition in Hungary: Armenian, Bulgarian, Croat, German,
Greek, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian
and Ukrainian.
It defines the concepts of national community and the individual
belonging to a national community. Declaring oneself to belong to a
nationality is an individual right.
The bill defines as a new concept the cultural autonomy of the nationality.
It recognises as collective rights the fostering and enrichment of
historical traditions, language and culture, the use of the
nationality's personal and geographical names, educational rights, as
well as the right to establish and operate institutions and maintain
international contacts.
The bill declares that the state supports the collection of the
artifacts of cultural traditions, the foundation and operation of
public collections, publication of books, information of the community
about laws and statements of public interest in its mother tongue, and
church services in the national community's language.