Romania's prime minister, facing an election run-off on Dec. 12, attacked Hungary's "insane" plans to grant citizenship to ethnic Hungarians abroad, in comments sure to appeal to Romanian nationalists.
"This is an insanity. That's an idea rather belonging to the 19th century," said Adrian Nastase, whose country has a substantial Hungarian minority. He was speaking in Alba Iulia in Transylvania after celebrating Romania's national day on Wednesday.
Nastase, from the ex-communist Social Democrat Party, is facing moderate Traian Basescu in the presidential poll and needs to appeal to at least part of the Romanian nationalist vote if he is to win the Dec. 12 run-off.
Hungarians will vote on Sunday in a referendum on whether to grant citizenship to up to 5 million ethnic Hungarians living outside the country, of which around half live in Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The issue of citizenship is especially sensitive for Romania, as nearly 1.5 million ethnic Hungarians live there, most of them in Transylvania, which both Romania and Hungary see as their spiritual home.
Alba Iulia itself is deeply symbolic. It is the site where on Dec. 1 1918, after World War One, Romania declared its modern boundaries and said Transylvania should belong to Romania and not Hungary.
Nastase's comments were criticised by Hungarian Foreign Minister Ferenc Somogyi, who told Hungarian Klub Radio: "(This was) a rather unusual, angry statement."
But Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany is also damning about the referendum, saying it is a "populist" backward-looking move. The referendum is backed by Hungary's rightwing Fidesz opposition.
DOMESTIC POLITICS
The Hungarian political party in Romania, the Hungarian Democratic Union, said it was not upset by Nastase's remarks and would likely continue to support his bloc in parliament. It was in coalition with Nastase's last government and backs a "yes" vote for Hungarian citizenship.
"We're not offended by Nastase's statements nor by Geoana's letter," party executive vice-president Laszlo Borbely said.
Earlier, Hungary's Foreign Ministry said it had received a letter from Romania's Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana saying ethnic Hungarians would have to renounce Romanian citizenship if they chose Hungarian citizenship.
"Both are related to the election campaign for the presidential runoff. They are populist statements. They probably wanted to grab more votes," Borbely said.
Source: Reuters
02.12.2004