Two out of three Hungarian political parties in Transylvania (Romania) will support a single electoral list for this May's European election. Both parties will also create a working group to draft a project for territorial autonomy for the Szeklerland and for Hungarian cultural autonomy in Transylvania. The decision has been announced by the leaders of both parties: the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and the Hungarian Civic Party (PCM).

According to UDMR President Kelemen Hunor, the autonomy project will be based on "the principle of subsidiarity", according to which political decisions should be taken locally whenever possible.

The autonomy project has two sides. On the one hand, the Hungarian parties want to establish a territorial autonomy for the Hungarian-majority territory of the Szeklerland, the eastermost area of Transylvania. On the other, they want to ensure that Hungarians in Transylvania enjoy personal cultural autonomy.

The request for an autonomous Szeklerland is not new. Last October, thousands of people formed a 53 km-long human chain asking for self-government. In March 2013, also a demonstration called for autonomy. UDMR has traditionally been more inclined towards cultural autonomy, but last year it also decided to work for Szeklerland territorial autonomy, referring to models like South Tyrol or the Aland Islands.

When this issue has been raised in the past, Romanian parties have always refused to discuss it, arguing that the Constitution of Romania does not allow the establishment of any autonomy.

Trying to ensure representation in the European Parliament

Regarding the European election, UDMR will run with its own list, and PCM has vowed to support it. Both parties estimate that this will help to ensure Transylvanian Hungarian representation in the European Parliament. The Romanian election law sets a minimum threshold of 5% of votes at the state level so that parties are allocated seats. Hungarian parties know that it might be difficult to overcome that threshold if their votes are separated into two or three different lists.

In the 2009 European election, UDMR reached nearly 9% of the votes in Romania and secured 3 MEPs, who joined the European People's Party parialmentary group.