Szeklerland’s Autonomy Statute to be Submitted to Parliament Again

The President of the Szekler National Council (SZNT) claims that the draft law on territorial autonomy for Szeklerland – rejected by the Bucharest parliament in December under emergency procedure – should be submitted to the legislative body again after the parliamentary elections due at the end of the year.

Balázs Izsák stressed in a statement that in the twenty years since its creation, the Romanian legislature has been confronted on average every four years with the fact that the Szekler people have not given up their territorial autonomy and their vision of making Romania “a democratic country” through the implementation of autonomy. “Taking into account the parliamentary election cycle, we can say that the four-yearly submission is natural and necessary. The composition of the legislature changes over time, and the Szekler community cannot afford to deprive even one Romanian legislator of the opportunity to get to know the autonomy statute of Szeklerland,” the President of the SZNT said.

He said that the sixth submission of the autonomy statute should take place after the elections, between 2024 and 2028, and that

any further submission should be accompanied by a high priority event in Romania and internationally, mass demonstrations, public forums, intensive diplomatic activity, and a press campaign initiated by the members of the community.

“It is a natural expectation of our parliamentary representation that they should help the success of the draft law by public speeches and all the means at their disposal,” Izsák said, adding that

the Hungarian-language counter-propaganda, open or veiled, comparing the autonomy struggle to “tilting at windmills,” poses a particular challenge to the drafters.

As a counter-argument, the SZNT president recalled that it took South Tyrol 50 years to achieve autonomy, Scotland 300, and Catalonia came under Spanish rule in 1714, but only gained autonomy in 1978.

As for the rejection of the autonomy statute for Szeklerland by Bucharest, Izsák said that the opinions of the legislative council (the expert body that examines the legal harmony of the texts) of the Romanian Parliament were “far from convincing,” containing numerous contradictions, factual errors, deliberate and malicious misunderstandings, and even examples of falsification of international documents.

“What we can hope for is that, as a first step, the Romanian legislature may improve its intellectual quality, which does not mean that it will be more tolerant and willing to accept the autonomy statute. The conditions for debate are improving, and that is in our interest too! Although the draft is not being put to parliamentary debate, there are nevertheless written and public counter-arguments, which can be refuted, and these can be sent to the legislative council, but also to all members of the legislature, and we have done so. That is how narrow the scope of the debate is, but it is an opportunity that we have taken and will take advantage of,” reads the statement.

Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Székely Nemzeti Tanács