Hungary and Romania signed a protocol on cooperation concerning ethnic Hungarians in Romania and ethnic Romanians in Hungary in Bucharest on Tuesday.
The document, signed by state secretaries Ferenc Gemesi for Hungary and Bogdan Aurescu for Romania, summed up achievements over the recent period and made recommendations.
The two officials discussed the recent massive dismissal of ethnic Hungarian officials in Romania. Gemesi argued that minorities should be represented in the various institutions in accordance with their proportion. Aurescu replied that the dismissals reflected on the fact that the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania was no longer a member of the governing coalition.
Gemesi emphasised that no one should be discriminated against in Romania because of receiving Hungarian education. The two secretaries agreed on joint visits to examine the state of mother-tongue education in minority schools of the two countries.
Examining the situation of ethnic Romanians in Hungary, Gemesi and Aurescu welcomed that the Romanian school of Battonya, a project financed by both governments, had been completed and the number of children enrolled in Romanian schools had increased considerably this year.
The state secretaries discussed how the two governments could boost the recovery of regions inhabited by minorities.
