The Coordination Council of the UDMR (Democrat Union of Magyars in Romania) together with the CRU (Council of Union Representatives) met in Targu Mures last Saturday and voted unanimously for the Declaration of Miercurea Ciuc, on forms of independence for the Secui (Magyar-origin minority in Transylvania) Council, as set in the UDMR programme. As he was risking losing some of the electorate in favor of some more radical Magyar groups wishing to become parties, the UDMR leader Marko Bela had to take actively involved in the initiative meant to achieve autonomy. On Saturday he claimed the issue would get more publicity the following week. Marko Bela explained he was not impressed with Romanian politicians' "hysterical" response to the issue and expressed confidence the UDMR would be successful. But the latter group did more than talk about autonomy. They even pleaded for a "necessary and natural idea" that a UDMR representative should become a European commissioner to represent Romania. The UDMR leaders also decided that they would held congress in April 22, 2007 and elect a president. Last June the radicals in the CNS (National Council of the Secui) were asking in the resolution read out in Ditrau for separating the Secui County from Romania by settling provisory borders for this region. The CNS president Csapo Jozsef was at that time demanding Romanian authorities to sign treaty and acknowledge the autonomy of the Secui County by September 30. Or, he threatened, the CNS would demand the great powers that signed the Treaty of Trianon to take action at the UN and the EU to have the Secui County's autonomy granted by treaty. A calendar for the Secui County's autonomy The UDMR leader insisted last Saturday that the CRU should vote for the statement of intention from Miercurea Ciuc. In order to make the UDMR's determination and "work" for autonomy visible, he asked the UDMR representatives to do as much talking about it as possible in the coming weeks, so that such autonomy would become "an issue for Romanian politics." As he wanted to show he did his homework, while in Targu Mures he developed upon the steps to be taken to meet such claim: to establish an association of public administration in the Secui County and to set a unique image of it, together with unique cultural strategies. He pointed: "Autonomy is neither a romantic nor an exotic matter. It concerns the fate of the entire country and of the Magyars." He commented: "Local councils can get associated in order to achieve practical strategies. In the Secui County there are very powerful common interests and we have to elaborate practical claims. On such basis local councils can join each other and form a group for the Secui County. They will thus work together to attain such goal." Constitution to be modified The UDMR president insisted that his group could and had to work on territorial autonomy and added there already were Romanian politicians receptive to the matter. He pointed once again to the need for changing legislation and the Constitution too, but admitted such changes could not be achieved overnight. Despite obstacles, he expressed confidence that autonomy could be achieved. He explained: "I think we must keep up with things. Response like the one to territorial autonomy was as vehement when the education law was at stake. And then we managed to carry it out, although not in the time we estimated." One week ago the Magyar mayors and vice mayors in the Secui County adopted on behalf of their community the Declaration of Miercurea Ciuc, expressing intention to use legal means to get those forms of autonomy included in the UDMR programme, the Secui County's territorial autonomy among them. Losing patience In Saturday's reunion they also took up the national minorities' status, at a standstill in the Parliament ever since early this year. Laszlo Borbely, a vice president of the UDMR, warned the UDMR wanted it to become an urgent issue and said the UDMR representatives were losing their patience. He complained that some partners in the Coalition in power were delaying things. He pointed to Romanian Democrats, who had given the "smallest help" to it. He denied the idea of a more aggressive campaign to promote this law project, explaining that for 16 years the UDMR had been using only parliamentary means to meet their claims. He explained a concept such as autonomy should scare no one, as the subsidiary principle was a basic principle in the EU. (...) Renegotiations on the Coalition The UDMR leader took this opportunity to speak about his group's victories and failures in the last two years and opined there was need to renegotiate on the Coalition in power. He claimed domestic problems in the Coalition would continue to exist after January 1, 2007 too. He explained: "We are interested in the consolidation of this Coalition. We must renegotiate and see to our objectives and interests, what we can achieve and renegotiate." He claimed the UDMR had a major contribution to accomplishing the EU integration mission. Mircea Chelaru, a vice president of Romanian Conservatives, demanded the Constitutional Court yesterday to search the UDMR as political party. Chelaru commented: "The constitutional obedience of the UDMr must be searched in detail. I am strongly asking the Constitutional Court to see if this gang works like a political party, given their unconstitutional statements and attitude in particular." We need to mention that the UDMR is not registered as a political party, but its structure includes territorial organizations and platforms, together with associate members. The "National Minimum" project The leaders of political organizations in Transylvania, representatives of the historical Churches there and also of the Magyar civic organizations in Romania met yesterday in Cluj. During debates attendants expressed consent to the Miercurea Ciuc initiative to work on the UDMR request for the Secui County's autonomy. The attendants agreed to elaborate a so-called "National Minimum " project as soon as possible. The document is to consist in claims related to the autonomy of the Magyar minority. They also asked that the Romanian state should finance university education in Magyar on Romanian territory and allow for self-governing under various forms.

Raluca PAPADOPOL