Autonomy project to be submitted to Parliament will be in public debate this month

The "Szeklers' Land" autonomy project to be submitted to the Parliament will be in public debate this month, said on Saturday in Covasna (central Romania) the UDMR (Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania) chairman, Kelemen Hunor.

According to Kelemen Hunor, the document was drafted in Romanian, its Hungarian translation being currently underway.

"The public debate will last, since it is not a project to be explained in one week or one day and so it shouldn't. A very well thought, very deep public debate is a must, both with the Romanian society as a whole and with the Hungarian one too. I could not say when this debate will come to an end, we are speaking about a very important project. (...) We shouldn't create the impression that it is something very simple, very easy to accept, because we know the society's perception on such an initiative, which the reservations are, and also the reasons why such an initiative on behalf of the Hungarian community, and such things should be explained. (...) Somewhere in August we wish to put it in public debate, this is the idea", said Kelemen Hunor, at the end of the SIC FESZT summer camp, organized in Covasna by the Young Hungarians Association.

He added that in order the autonomy project to come into being the fundamental Law should be modified too.

Two months ago, the Sfantu Gheorghe UDMR chairman Antal Arpad, who has worked at the autonomy project, said that it includes five significant aspects: the attributions to be delegated by the Romanian state to the regional and local authorities; the official languages in the region; the ethnic proportionality in the public bodies; the fiscal autonomy; the rights of the Romanians living in the area.

UDMR proposes, among other...