MINELRES: Bulletin DIVERS on Ethnic Minorities - 21 (104)/2004

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Original sender: Edivers Buletin <edivers_buletin-admin@mediafax.ro>


Divers Bulletin no. 21 (104) / June 14, 2004

News
ETHNIC GERMAN MAYOR SCORES LANDSLIDE IN SIBIU...
...WHILE CLUJ EXTREME NATIONALIST MAYOR IS TROUNCED
UDMR DEPUTY LEAVES HUNGARIAN PARTY IN ROMANIA
ROMANIA TO ACCELERATE GRANTING OF CITIZENSHIP TO TIRASPOL PRISONER
ROMANIAN OFFICIAL REFUSES TO MARRY COUPLE

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News

ETHNIC GERMAN MAYOR SCORES LANDSLIDE IN SIBIU� 

SIBIU - Incumbent Mayor Klaus Johannis, an ethnic German by origin, won
a second mandate in the Transylvanian town of Sibiu, garnering close to
89 percent of the vote in the 6 June local elections, RFE/RL reported.
His Democratic Federation of German from Romania (FDGR) has an absolute
majority of over 60 percent on the municipal council.
Author: DIVERS

CLUJ-NAPOCA - The final results at the local elections also show that
Greater Romania Party Executive Secretary and Cluj Mayor Gheorghe Funar
has been eliminated from the mayoral runoff slated to be held on 20
June, RFE/RL reported. The mayoral runoff will match PSD candidate Ioan
Rus against PNL-Democratic Party candidate Emil Boc.
Author: DIVERS


UDMR DEPUTY LEAVES HUNGARIAN PARTY IN ROMANIA

SFINTU-GHEORGHE - Parliamentary deputy Zsolt Szilagyi and 17 other
members of the Democrat Union of the Hungarians from Romania (UDMR)
resigned from the party last week, RFE/RL reported. Szilagyi said his
decision was prompted by the fact that the UDMR "has not only abandoned
the struggle for autonomy, but is also encroaching on democratic
principles." Szilagyi was apparently referring to the refusal of the
authorities to register the Hungarian Civic Union in the local election
race. Supporters of the union claim this decision was due to the current
alliance between the UDMR and the PSD. Szilagyi has initiated the
project for autonomy of the Szekler lands, which has been submitted to
Romania's parliament.
Author: DIVERS


ROMANIA TO ACCELERATE GRANTING OF CITIZENSHIP TO TIRASPOL PRISONER

CHISNAU - Romanian Ambassador to Moldova Filip Teodorescu told the
Bucharest daily "Ziua" on 4 June that the embassy in Chisinau is
speeding up the procedure to grant Romanian citizenship to Tudor
Petrov-Popa, RFE/RL reported. Petrov-Popa is the only member of the
"Ilascu group" who has not yet been granted citizenship. He and Andrei
Ivantoc have three more years to serve of the 15-year sentence given to
them in 1993 by Tiraspol authorities for alleged terrorism. 
Author: DIVERS


ROMANIAN OFFICIAL REFUSES TO MARRY COUPLE

CLUJ-NAPOCA - The groom said "yes," but a city hall official said "no,"
refusing to marry a couple because the groom didn't voice his consent
first in the Romanian language, the Associated Press related.
Vasile Gherman, a civil servant who performs civil marriages, refused
Sunday to marry Andrei Dombi, 44, an ethnic Hungarian with dual Romanian
and French citizenship to Anca Diana Toma, 33, after Dombi said "yes" in
Hungarian, Romanian and French - "igen, da, oui." Gherman may now face
disciplinary action. 
"He didn't act correctly," said Mircea Jorj, a legal adviser with Cluj
City Hall. The couple said they would sue Gherman. "I said 'igen'
because I am ethnic Hungarian, 'da' because I am a Romanian citizen and
'oui' because I am French," said Dombi of Sunday's ceremony. "It was not
something premeditated."
Gherman said that he needed to hear a clear consent from the groom and
hearing "yes," in three languages was confusing. "If he had said "da"
first, I would have married them," Gherman said. He added that he called
for the couple later in the day to marry them, but they weren't to be
found. 
Gherman already had refused to marry Hungarian couples twice in the past
after they said "yes" in both Romanian and Hungarian. After one of the
couples sued, the court ordered city hall to pay them $1,200. 
A law that took effect in 2001 grants ethnic minorities the right to use
their mother tongue in legal affairs that take place in parts of Romania
where their minority group exceeds 20 percent of the population. More
than 20 percent of Cluj residents are ethnic Hungarian. The city is 180
miles northwest of Bucharest, the capital. 
Cluj's nationalist former mayor, Gheorghe Funar - known for his
anti-Hungarian stance - lost a bid for re-election on Sunday. Most
ethnic Hungarians in Romania live in Transylvania, which was under
Austro-Hungarian rule for centuries until 1918. While ethnic tensions
have eased, some members of both communities continue to harbor distrust
of each other.

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Author: DIVERS
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