Contacts with the Parent Countries
Contacts with the Parent Countries
The Government of the Republic of Hungary welcomes the contributions of the parent countries and language nations to the strengthening of the language and the cultural identity of the minorities living in the country. The Government endeavors to ensure that the minorities serve as a bridge between Hungary and the parent nations.
Efforts to establish good neighborly, amicable relations and co-operation are reflected in the fact that besides being signatory to multilateral international conventions, the Republic of Hungary has signed bilateral agreements and conventions with the parent countries of many of the minorities (Slovakia, Romania, the Ukraine, Slovenia, Federal Republic of Germany, and Croatia). In line with these conventions, intergovernmental minority joint commissions have been established to discuss topical minority questions, to assess the realization of obligations deriving from the convention, and to accordingly draft suggestions for their respective governments. The most recently established commission was set up with the representatives of Slovakia and Hungary in January 1999. The representatives of the minorities concerned also participate in the work of all the joint commissions.
The Republic of Hungary undertook obligations in the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities not to obstruct persons belonging to the national minorities in practicing the right to establish cross-border relations freely and in peace, and to maintain contacts with persons with a shared ethnic, cultural, language and religious identity, or with a common cultural heritage. The Minorities Act states that persons belonging to the minorities have the right to maintain relations with both the state and community institutions of their parent country and language nation, and with minorities living in other countries. Local minority self-governments have the right to maintain relations with any foreign or mother country minority organization and association, as well as the right to conclude cooperation agreements. The minority organizations conduct cultural activities, for which they can establish institutions – within the legal framework – that are entitled to maintain international relations.
According to a national survey conducted by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1998, one of the most important areas of the activities of the national minority self-governments has been the establishment and development of relations with the parent countries. In recent years, relations between the minorities and their respective parent countries have started to blossom. These contacts are evidenced in a variety of forms from the operation of a jointly maintained school, through youth exchanges, educational and cultural co-operation and support, to ‘twin’ contacts between communities and entrepreneurial initiatives linking the two countries.
The Hungarian Government considers the conscious nurturing of the culture of the minorities not only as a duty deriving from the international commitments it has undertaken, but also as a long-term national interest. It supports the strengthening of the identity of minority groups, the development of the minority self-government system, and the implementation of the cultural autonomy of minorities. The cultural diversity of the country that goes back centuries is a common asset of all its citizens.
