Romanian President Traian Basescu met visiting Hungarian counterpart Laszlo Solyom in Bucharest on Monday and followed tete-a-tete talks with a joint press conference where the Romanian head of state blasted a "referendum" currently under way in Romanian territories with a Hungarian majority.
The National Council of Szeklers (ethic Hungarians living in Romania) is currently organizing what it calls a referendum to evaluate the support of ethnic Hungarians for extended autonomy in the counties of Harghita, Covasna and Mures.
According to Basescu, the referendum is "unconstitutional and illegal" and the Romanian state will "apply the Constitution and state laws without hesitation" once the Council tries to use the result of this "test" in its own interest.
For his part, Solyom said that during talks with Basescu he called for an open dialogue on various opportunities of self-regulation of the Hungarian minority in Romania.
But he said that while "cultural autonomy is natural in the European Union and territorial autonomy is possible, nowhere is it directed against the territorial integrity of a state".
Feb 12, 2007
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