RMDSZ, HUNGARIAN STABILITY IN ROMANIA
In December 1989 freedom came to the country, and along with it, the political community of Hungarians in Transylvania, condemned to extinction by the communist dictatorship is reborn. Following decades of oppression the desire for self-determination arises, resulting in the foundation of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), on the 25th of December 1989.
Our Alliance is a success-story in Eastern-Europe. For the past 30 years no other Hungarian minority-protection organisation has managed to rally the support of the community, representing Hungarians in the Parliament and local governments. Our organisation was able to do so. For this, we are thankful to all who gave us their support, and to the well-intentioned members of our community who warned us when they felt we were not making the best decisions.
During this time, we used the tools at our disposal, built our community to the best of our knowledge, established institutions, wrote and adopted legislation. We have made significant progress in linguistic rights and have often been able to broaden our opportunities.
We believe dialogue is the foundation of politics and advocacy. Representing the interests of the members of our community, and preserving our linguistic and cultural identity are our primary goals. And they will continue to be our goals as long as we face the constant challenge of assimilation. Circumstances and instruments may change, but the challenge remains the same: we wish to live in our home-country, as Hungarians. We wish to be a strong community.
THE COMMITMENTS OF THE RMDSZ
We have set two major goals for our organisation in the past 30 years: firstly to establish the rule of law and its corresponding institutions. Our other goal was to integrate Romania in the Euro-Atlantic Community. Our second goal was achieved when Romania joined NATO and the European Union.
The RMDSZ aimed to elaborate, and work towards the adoption of a legislative proposal for autonomy, including but not limited to territorial autonomy. We call for decentralization and applying the principle of subsidiarity. Towards this end we look to the positive examples of self-governance in Europe, and draw from the positive traditional ethnic coexistence in Transylvania.
Education is the most important area of policy-making for us. The future of the Hungarian community depends on the quality of education in the mother tongue, and the competitive knowledge of young Hungarians. Furthermore we support the creation of living conditions that ensure opportunities for our people in the country they were born in, reduce the risk of poverty, and ensure prosperity for those on low incomes. Our economic-policy is in accordance with our minority protection activities. The aim is to link economic sustainability with raising living standards. We aim to create the necessary conditions for our youth to live and prosper in their home country. We fight to preserve our linguistic and cultural identity, and to pass it on to newer generations. As part of our efforts regarding environmental policy, we militate for a sustainable and green Romania for present and future generations! We see our foreign policy and our presence abroad as a means to lobby internationally for the application of existing individual rights in Romania and the extension of community rights for our people. We raise international awareness when the rights of members of the Hungarian community in Romania are infringed upon. We aim for cohesive minority protection laws in Europe. And we have made a significant advancement in this area: we submitted the legislative proposals of our European Citizens' Initiative, the Minority SafePack, to the European Commission. Our aim remains unchanged: protect European rights for autochthonous national minorities in Europe.
RMDSZ is a member of the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN).