MINELRES: Romania: Divers Buletin no. 7 (90) / March 1, 2004

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


Divers Bulletin no. 7 (90) / March 1, 2004
News

ETHNIC HUNGARIANS CALL FOR REHABILITATION OF NATIONALIST POET

... WHILE ROMANIAN AUTHORITIES ASK INVESTIGATION ON ACTION

SZEKLER REGIONAL-AUTONOMY PLAN SUBMITTED TO ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT 

C. V. TUDOR LEADER DONATES RABIN STATUE 

UDMR ASKS BUDAPEST NOT TO CUT THE BUDGET ASSIGNED TO HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY
IN ROMANIA


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News

ETHNIC HUNGARIANS CALL FOR REHABILITATION OF NATIONALIST POET

CLUJ- NAPOCA - Hundreds of ethnic Hungarians in Romania gathered on 22
February in different Transylvanian towns, calling for the
rehabilitation of nationalist poet Albert Wass, RFE/RL reported. Wass
was sentenced to death in absentia in 1946 for inciting the killing of
Jews and ethnic Romanians during World War II. He fled to Germany and
later emigrated to the United States, where he committed suicide in 1988
at the age of 90. In 1978, the United States refused to extradite him to
Romania on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to implicate
him in the killings. Similar commemoration ceremonies, at which
participants read from Wass's works, were held in Hungary the same day.
The Romanian authorities are demanding that a bust erected in a church
courtyard in Wass's memory be dismantled on the basis of a 2002
ordinance that prohibits the erection of memorials or the naming of
streets in honor of war criminals.
Author: DIVERS
summary


... WHILE ROMANIAN AUTHORITIES ASK INVESTIGATION ON ACTION

TIRGU MURES � County Police Inspectorate (IPJ) Mures, in central
Romania, last week started investigations on reading related to
rehabilitation of Wass Albert, while the prefect of county Cluj, Vasile
Soporan, asked on for the authorities to check the legality of the
event. According to the leadership of IJP Mures, at present
investigations are being led to find out possible violation of the
Ordinance 31/2003 referring to promotion of personality cult on persons
guilty of having committed offenses against peace and mankind. 
Author: DIVERS
summary


SZEKLER REGIONAL-AUTONOMY PLAN SUBMITTED TO ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT 

BUCHAREST � Four Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR)
deputies in the lower house of parliament officially submitted on 26
February a controversial draft law to the chamber's Bureau that would
grant regional autonomy to the territories historically inhabited by the
Szeklers -- a group within the country's Hungarian minority � RFE/RL
reported. The draft was approved on 17 January by the Szekler National
Council (SZNT in Hungarian, CNS in Romanian). It covers an area of some
10,000 square kilometers with 809,000 inhabitants in the current
counties of Covasna, Harghita, and Mures -- although it leaves out areas
in Covasna and Mures with an ethnic Romanian majority. The UDMR
distanced itself from the plan, saying the project has been submitted
"at the wrong time and in the wrong formulation" and would "distance us
from autonomy rather than bring us closer to it." According to the UDMR
statement, the draft runs the risk of "carrying water to the mills of
ethnic Romanian extremists" and mobilizing them ahead of the June local
elections. 
Author: DIVERS
summary


C. V. TUDOR LEADER DONATES RABIN STATUE 

BUCHAREST - Greater Romania Party (PRM) Chairman Corneliu Vadim Tudor
announced on 20 February that the PRM is "donating" the statue it
erected last month in Brasov to the city's municipal council, RFE/RL
reported. The statue was erected illegally, although the council later
issued a permit. Tudor said that by donating the statue he has proven
that its erection was not driven by any electoral "interests or
motivations, and that what I do I always do with the noblest and
heartfelt intentions". 
Author: DIVERS
summary


UDMR ASKS BUDAPEST NOT TO CUT THE BUDGET ASSIGNED TO HUNGARIAN COMMUNITY
IN ROMANIA

TIRGU-MURES � Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR),
chairman, Marko Bela, �firmly� asked on February 21 for the Hungarian
Government not to cut the budget funds assigned to Magyar community,
considering its hard social and economic condition. UDMR chairman made
the request during the political speech held at the meeting of Union
Representatives Board (CRU) in Tirgu Mures and makes reference to the
funds assigned to back the culture, education and spiritual life of the
ethnic Hungarians in Romania.
"This community faces such a bad situation socially and economically
that this support is vital to back our institutions ", added Marko Bela.
He pointed out that UDMR asks Hungary that while striving to deploy its
joint politics it should also try to �love� as much even the
cross-border co-nationals and not to treat them differently depending on
parties or ideologies. 
Author: DIVERS
summary


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