Romanian Senate Rejects Revisionist Draft Bill Proposed by Hungarian Separatists

On Friday, December 29, the Romanian Senate rejected a draft bill proposed by the Hungarian separatists. The politicians, all from the Hungarian minority living in Romania, proposed for two counties in central Romania plus a part of a third one to become an independent territory. The Romanian Deputy Chamber previously rejected the draft bill.

The separatists even proposed a name for the territory they would’ve liked to become independent – Szeklerland. It is not the first time the controversial name has appeared on the separatists’ agenda – this so-called ‘independent territory’ symbolizes Hungarian revisionism in Romania, as the Hungarian politicians also conceived a flag for this territory and illegally raised it on public buildings.

Hungarian revisionism and separatism have become increasingly aggressive over the last decade, fueled by the dependency of the ruling parties in Romania on political allies. UDMR, the Hungarian minority revisionist party, has been in alliance with the ruling parties in Romania for decades, which offered them the potential to pressure the Government for more and more rights for their electorate.

Also, the Government in Budapest knows how to fuel this movement. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban wearing a revisionist scarf at a football game, with the map of the so-called “Greater Hungary,” is a way to draw attention from the highest level upon the trials of the revisionists to destabilize Romania.

The Hungarian minority is scattered throughout the country, but mostly in central Romania, Covasna, Harghita, and Mures, the three counties the separatists see as independent territories with their language and local laws.

The separatist movement in Romania acts bluntly against the state’s Constitution, which mentions the territorial indivisibility of the country’s territory. This doesn’t seem to bother the Hungarian minority politicians who have their agenda, and occasionally, they try to force revisionist draft bills in Parliament.