Romanian Opposition ‘Giving Transylvania to Hungarians’, President Claims

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday accused the opposition Social Democratic Party, PSD, of "fighting behind the scenes in parliament to give Transylvania to the Hungarians" after draft legislation opening the door to limited autonomy for a part of Transylvania where ethnic Hungarians are concentrated got the implicit approval of the lower house of parliament, in which the PSD is the largest party.

"The PSD helped the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, UDMR, to pass in the Chamber of Deputies a law that gives large autonomy to the Szekely Land," the president said in a speech, referring to the area where ethnic Hungarians are a majority, and to the main party representing ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

"While I, the government and the other authorities fight for the lives of Romanians and to get rid of this pandemic, the PSD … fights behind the scenes in parliament to give Transylvania to the Hungarians," the President added.

"Bună ziua (good day in Romanian), dear Romanians. Jó napot kívánok (good day in Hungarian), PSD," Iohannis said, opening his speech in which he vowed to block such "inadmissible" legislation from becoming law. "What did Budapest's leader, Viktor Orban, promise you in exchange for this deal?" he asked PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu.

However, Ciolacu dismissed the accusation on Wednesday, stressing that, in fact, his party "will not support the Szekely Land autonomy law" in the upper house of parliament, or Senate. He also recalled that the PSD had "voted against it [the legislation, as proposed by the UDMR] in the specialized commission" of parliament.

The lower chamber of parliament draft automatically adopted the draft law after it exceeded the term of 45 days which MPs had to debate it....