With a population of 1.24 million in Transylvania, Hungarians have been calling for self-government from the Romanian state since 1920. The request was made stronger after the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship in 1989, but 23 years later the expectations of the Transylvania Hungarian movement have not been fulfilled. Since Romania joined the EU in 2007, the Magyar autonomy strategy is increasingly going through Brussels. Last week, Hungarian parties and organizations made a renewed called for autonomy during the meeting of the European Free Alliance's foundation Centre Maurits Coppieters in Szováta (Szekler Land, Transylvania).

Vicepresident of the European Parliament and president of the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania (EMNT, in Hungarian) László Tokés explained the different views that Magyars and the Romanian state have on the administrative division in Romania. "We have two different initiatives" for the self-government of Hungarians, he said. "The first one is a territorial autonomy for the Szekler Land", that is, the area in eastern Transylvania that is home to more than 600,000 Hungarians who constitute an overall majority there. The second one is "cultural autonomy for all Hungarians". But the Romanian state, he said, not only does not want to hear about the autonomy for the Szekler Land, but it also wants to "split Szekler Land in three different regions".

The chair of the Transylvanian Hungarian Peoples' Party, Tibor Toró, recalled that Hungarians in Szekler Land already have shown their will to become a self-governing region by means of a 200,000-strong people mobilization in previous years to have an autonomous system created. He also said that this kind of initiatives are not new at all, and that since the 1920s Hungarians have been trying to get autonomy, either for the whole of Transylvania or for a part of it.

Prospects: opportunities and weaknesses

Miklós Bakk, professor of Political Science at Babeş-Bolyai University in Transylvania's capital city Cluj, pointed out that the lack of agreement within the Hungarian movement in Transylvania on the model of autonomy that should be established (territorial, cultural, both...) was dividing Magyars and hindered their claims.

He also referred to professor Yash Ghai's theoretical factors that help in establishing an autonomy. Thus, according to Bakk, Transylvania Hungarians could have greater chances if they were able to get "a greater international commitment" with their struggle, as the cases of Aland our South Tyrol prove. Still following Ghai's ideas, Bakk added that including several ethnic groups in the demand for autonomy would also be helpful. The problem in relation to this, he said, is that only Hungarians -and to a lesser extent, Germans- seemed to be interested in self-government in Transylvania.

Further information:

• Previous articles on Nationalia: The Székely of Romania call for referendum on territorial autonomy and Collective rights for ethnic minorities denied in Romania