Language Research

The Constitution of Romania, adopted on December 8, 1991

The Law on Local Public Administration (L. 69/1991) contains several articles on the use of language by national minorities in their contacts with administrative authorities:

Article 23

(6): In territorial-administrative units in which national minorities have a significant share, the citizens shall be informed of the agenda in their language, too.

Article 58

(2): Citizens belonging to national minorities, in their relations with the authorities of the local public administration and with their machinery, may address themselves orally or in writing in their mother tongue, too.

(3): Petitions presented in writing shall be accompanied by their translations into Romanian.

(4): In case the representative of the public authority or its employee does not know the language of the respective minority, the services of an interpreter shall be used

The Government's Emergency Decree 22/1997 in principle modified the original law, allowing the use of national minority languages in public administration (for example, the posting of bilingual road signs) in settlements where minorities exceed 20% of the population.

However, the implementation of the government decree was hindered in the process of gaining the full status of a law.

The Law on Education (L. 84/1995) enacted in 1995 aimed exclusively at enforcing the dominance of the majority language and culture by deprivation of rights and by placing restrictions on schooling in the minority mother tongue and on religious education. Contradictions in some articles have created an uncertain legal situation in minority education and enabled the authorities to intervene. The Government Emergency Decree 36/1997 did remove the anti-minority provisions of the Education Law, but the new Education Law passed in 1999, based on that decree, again includes restrictions in the sphere of minority-language education. For example, it does not allow for the re-establishment of an independent, state-funded, Hungarian-language university.

Draft Law on National Minorities and Autonomous Communities, proposed by the DAHR (the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) in Bucharest on November 18, 1993

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Updated (January 2001)

In January, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania signed a co-operation agreement with the new government. The agreement covers provisions on the use of mother tongue when minority is greater than 20%, institutional and legislative changes and models of intercultural co-operation. Issues relating to education are also covered in that document: developing the teaching of Hungarian at University, equal financing of Hungarian cultural organization, time of television and radio broadcasting and using the mother tongue in public life.

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Updated (April 2002)

The Law on Hungarians Living in Neighboring Countries, also known as the Status Law, was passed by Hungarian Parliament in June 2001. It allows ethnic Hungarians living in Romania, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Ukraine and Slovenia to enjoy advantages including an annual three-month work permit in Hungary, medical care and pension benefits on the basis of an identity card issued by Hungarian authorities. According to Hungary the Status Law is aimed at helping ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries preserve their cultural and national identities and at offering them economic support.

Romania, which is home to 1.7 million ethnic Hungarians protested mainly over the provision granting working rights for ethnic Hungarians, saying it would discriminate against Romanians seeking employment in Hungary. Bucharest also objected to the stipulation in the law that would have allowed organizations representing ethnic Hungarians in Romania to issue the Hungarian ID cards, saying it would have amounted to a breach of Romania's sovereignty.

The first step to reach consensus was a memorandum signed on December 22, 2001 in Budapest by Romanian Prime Minister Nastase and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, where Hungary agreed to allow all Romanian citizens, regardless of their ethnic origin, to apply for work permits within its territory. In addition, organizations representing the Hungarians will only make “recommendations” to Hungarian authorities, which would issue the cards in Hungary proper. To allay Romanian suspicions, Hungary in the memorandum pledged not to offer any kind of support to Romania's ethnic Hungarian political organizations without prior approval from Romanian authorities.

Romanians married to ethnic Hungarians who were initially supposed to enjoy the same benefits as their spouses will be excluded from the law's provisions, what will cause dissatisfaction among mixed families. Bucharest said the exclusion is necessary to eliminate discrimination between Romanians married to ethnic Hungarians and other Romanians.

Despite obtaining some apparently important concessions from Budapest, Romanian officials still have suspicions regarding the actual implementation of the memorandum. A. Nastase on January 11, 2002 criticized a statement allegedly made by Hungarian Democratic Forum Deputy Zsolt Nemeth who said: “that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a Romanian to work in Hungary.”

Hungarian government, in response promised to fulfill all obligations assumed in the memorandum; however, on January 15 it limited the number of foreign workers in 2002. A government spokesman said only 81,320 foreign workers will be admitted - a number equal to the job vacancies in 2001.

In the memorandum, Romania and Hungary agreed that Budapest would review the Status Law and initiate the necessary amendments in six months. But to what extent Budapest will be ready to amend the law most likely depended on the outcome of Hungary's general elections.

Source: Eugen Tomiuc, RFE/RL correspondent, RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 11, Part II, January 17, 2002

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Updated (June 2002)

ROMA

A Law on Public Administration enacted in April 2001 allows for the use of minority languages in public administration, but it is not clear how the law will benefit Roma.

The law stipulates a range of rights applicable in areas where minorities constitute 20 percent of the population, such as the availability of local council agendas and decisions in minority languages. This presents two principal problems for the Roma minority.

First, to count the exact number of Roma in villages, towns and cities is difficult, due to the reluctance of Roma to self-identify. The 1992 census counted less than a third of the estimated number of Roma in Romania. Second, even if correctly counted, the Roma population is unlikely to reach 20 percent in most or all territorial administrative units, and therefore the law will have little if any impact.

The right to use languages other than Romanian in criminal and civil proceedings is constitutionally guaranteed (Article 127) and further specified in the Criminal and Civil Procedure Codes. This Code provides for the right of the defendant to use his or her language during all stages of the criminal proceedings. The Code of Civil Procedure allows for the use of interpreters, with fees to be paid by the losing party.

In practice, however, judges have been known to insist that minority persons with even a rudimentary grasp of the Romanian language use it in official proceedings; even if they cannot fully understand the proceedings. There are few official Romani-speaking interpreters.

EDUCATION

Teaching of the Romani languages in Romanian schools has increased enormously in recent years. According to one report, in the school year 1996/1997, 445 Roma students at eight schools were studying Romani, at the request of their parents.¹ By the year 2000/2001, according to the Ministry for Education, there were 200 teachers, both Roma and non-Roma, teaching Romani to more than 10,000 students.

The legal framework for teaching minority languages was set forth in the 1995 Law on Education, which established compulsory education in Romanian,² but also allowed the organization of classes in minority languages at both the primary and secondary school levels, upon the written request of parents or guardians. The law also provides for the publication of textbooks in minority languages. Vocational training is provided only in Romanian, although some terminology may be taught in minority languages.

In April 2001, the new government's Ministry of Education and Research introduced two directives, which could have a negative impact on minority education, including Roma. The first gives discretion over the teaching of minority languages to the hands of school directors, thus restricting the rights of Romani parents to choose the language of education for their children. The second reduced the number of school inspectors for minorities to one per county.

While Roma may establish their own schools where funds are available, the state has no legal obligation to establish minority schools or contribute to their maintenance. No schools for Roma have been established to date. In fact, Roma schools are not universally supported by Roma NGOs, some of whom fear they may lead to segregation and low standards.

Although minorities may freely set up private universities, no Roma private university exists so far in Romania.

MEDIA

There are no legal provisions specifically promoting minority language media in Romania. The Roma community publishes its own newspapers and magazines, which generally promote a positive image of Roma and Romani culture. However, these publications have a limited circulation. One Romani activist points out that public support for Romani media is scant: only one of ten existing Roma publications receives financial support from the government (“Aven Amentza”). Currently there are no Romani language programs broadcast on Romanian National Television or on public radio.

Source: http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10/642/minority_romania.pdf, The EU Accession Monitoring Program Report on Minority Protection, Open Society Institute 2001 on

http://www.eumap.org/reports/content/10

¹ These included 410 students in primary school grades I to IV and 35 in high school grades IX and XII. Council of National Minorities, The Education System in Romania: Tuition in the Languages of National Minorities in the 1996/1997 School Year, 1998.

² Law 84/1995 Official Gazette 370, amended by law 151/1999 of 3 August republished in the Official Gazette 606 of 12 December 1999. Article 8 states that “education at all levels is in Romanian. In accordance with this law education may also take place in the mother tongue of national minorities and in foreign languages...Learning Romanian as the official language of the state is compulsory for all Romanian citizens.”Art.8 (1); (3).

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Updated (November 2002)

THE “PRUTENAU ACT”

On October 6, 2002 the Senate approved the bill (“Prutenau Act”) according to which Romanian commercial companies will have to translate into the Romanian language the terminology used in their business activities. The bill is known under the name of its main promoter, Senator George Prutenau.

The “Prutenau Act” establishes fines up to Lei 50 million (approximately 1,500 Euro) for the companies that do not make such translations.

Senator Prutenau took as a model the French law; however, in France, the debates started about the abrogation of the law because the obligation to translate everything into French has lead to serious problems for Internet users.

Source: Mercator News, October 2002, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

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Updated (January 2003)

ROMANIA AND HUNGARY AGREE ON THE STATUS LAW

Romania and Hungary on December 11, 2002 finally agreed on a common standpoint in a much-debated question of the Hungarian Status Law (see Update, April 2002). This law allows ethnic Hungarians living in the neighboring countries to receive basic subsidies within their own country as well as preferential treatment while traveling or working in Hungary.

According to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, the law will be amended to mitigate tensions or misunderstandings between Hungary and its neighbors. The amendments, which are sixfold, are now in line with the EU law prohibiting the countries to have laws that apply abroad.

One of the modifications is the requirement that a neighboring country must agree with support given by Hungary. The modifications will also guarantee Hungarian education for the Hungarian ethnic community but only with the agreement of Romanian authorities.

The amended law will now fit into Romanian legal system and therefore safeguard the identity of ethnic Hungarians living in Romania. Romanian Foreign Minister also welcomed the fact that this issue will no longer dominate bilateral relations, as has been the case for an excessively long period of time.

Source: Eurolang News, Brussels, December 13, 2002, by Hannah McGlue, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4009

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Updated (April 2003)

FUTURE CONSTITUTION TO GRANT MORE RIGHTS FOR ETHNIC MINORITIES

The ad hoc parliamentary commission that examined possible constitutional amendments ended its work in February 2003. The amendments include an article allowing the use of mother tongue in contacts with local administrative bodies and in courts in those localities where a minority constitutes “a significant number” of the population. However, the commission has not specified yet what that “significant number” stands for.

The Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania demanded 20 percent to be specified as the criterion for national minority representation. However, the introduction of a subsidization principle and the redefinition of national minorities did not collect the necessary number of votes.

The Greater Romania Party has boycotted the commission's debate altogether, saying the Constitution does not need to be amended. The commission's recommendations are to be debated in parliament.

Source: Minelres News, Romania: Ethnic Diversity Briefs, No.45/March 3, 2003, Bucharest, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2003-March/002595.html

LAW ON EDUCATION

The Education Law of 1995 was controversial particularly due to the Article 120, which restricted minority language education.

Article 120

(2) In primary schools with instruction in the languages of national minorities the subjects “History of the Romanians” and “Geography of Romania” are taught in these languages, according to the same curriculum and textbooks as are used in the classes with instruction in Romanian.

In middle and secondary minority schools the subjects “History of the Romanians” and “Geography of Romania” are taught in Romanian, according to the same curricula and textbooks as are used for the grades with instruction in Romanian.

Examination in “History of the Romanians” and “Geography of Romania” shall be taken in the language in which it was studied.

By law, the content of education does not adapt to minority groups, even in classes where education is provided in a minority language. Specifically, textbooks are to be identical and transliterations of proper nouns are seemingly disallowed.

The subject “History of Romanians” was called “History of Romania” before what encompassed all Romanian citizens regardless of their origin. The recent compromise in this matter brought in the following sub-section:

(3) In curricula and textbooks of World History and History of the Romanians also the history and traditions of national minorities living in Romania shall be reflected.

Finally, according to the subsection (4) members of national minorities may request lessons on their history and culture at secondary level, but the Ministry of Education retains the right to oversee the content of textbooks and all curricula.

The 1995 Law was drafted under the backdrop of a desire to appease the European Union because it was passed only a month after the government of Romania submitted its application to join the EU. It was accompanied by a glossy pamphlet in English stating that the new Education Law in Romania is one of the most democratic in Europe. The pamphlet compared provisions of the 1995 law with the international standards and with the Hungarian legislation.

The law, as initially passed, caused much controversy among representatives of the Hungarian minority who felt it insufficiently recognized their rights. After the change of governments in November 1996, a process of revision of the law began. The revision of Article 120, by the 1999 ordinance, has significantly increased the chances of Hungarians to education in their language, at least de jure.

AMENDED LAW

The 1995 Law on Education amended in 1999 (Law No 151/1999) presents more detailed provisions on both education of national minorities and education in the mother tongue thus building on Article 32 of the Constitution.

Article 5 (1) of the Law on Education guarantees the right to education to all citizens of Romania. This restriction conflicts with Romania's obligations under the international human rights law, where each child under the jurisdiction of the country has a right to education.

Article 8 (2) of the same act reiterates the right of members of national minorities to mother tongue education.

According to Article 118 persons belonging to national minorities have the right to study and receive instruction in their mother tongue at all levels and forms of education by an appropriate request.

Article 119 states:

(1) Taking into account local needs, any groups, classes, sections or school units teaching in the languages of national minorities may be established on request and in accordance with the provisions of this law.

(2) Paragraph (1) of this article shall be implemented without prejudice to learning and teaching of the official language.

Some subordinate legislation has been passed in an attempt to transform these changes from “de jure” into “de facto” stage. An example of this trend is the Order No. 3113 of January 31, 2000 when Article 1 states that lessons of the mother tongue for pupils belonging to national minorities who study in schools with tuition in the Romanian language are included compulsorily in the curriculum.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Article 123 of the 1995 Education Law, as amended in 1999, explicitly permits higher education in the mother tongue:

(1) Within higher educational institutions run by the state, groups, sections, colleges and faculties teaching in the mother tongue may be organized, according to the law, at request. In this case, acquiring of the specialized terminology in the Romanian language shall be assured. At request and according to the law, multicultural higher educational institutions can be established. The languages of teaching shall be determined in the foundation law.

(2) Persons belonging to national minorities shall have the right to set up and manage their own private higher educational institutions according to the law.

Thus, the law not only admits the possibility of minority language education in state higher education establishments, but it also (by the subsection 2) explicitly permits the existence of private institutions of higher education run by the members of minority groups.

Currently there is a private Hungarian University in Transylvania (the Sapientia University), which was officially opened in October 2001. Whilst the Hungarian government has reportedly pledged to support this University (and other Hungarian language universities in Romania) to the tune of almost HUF 4 billion (around €16,5 million) annually until 2004, the Romanian Public Information Minister said at the opening of the University that under the current conditions, Romania could not subsidize private universities, regardless of the language of instruction.

The European Commission also noted that the Romanian government has failed to comply with its earlier plans to found a public university teaching in Hungarian, German and Romanian (the Petöfi-Schiller University).

Source: Right to Education, Minority Rights in Education, Lessons for the European Union from Estonia, Latvia, Romania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Duncan Wilson, Printed by Elanders Novum AB, December 2002, http://www.right-to-education.org/content/index_6.html

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Updated (June 2003)

NATIONAL MINORITIES WILL BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK THEIR MOTHER TONGUE BEFORE THE COURT

On May 22, 2003 Romania's Chamber of Deputies voted on the draft amendments to the Penal Code reintroducing a provision, which allows members of national minorities to speak their mother tongue freely in judicial proceedings (Article 7). Article 8 says that the courts must guarantee free interpreters for those not speaking Romanian.

Initially this provision had been removed from the proposed amendments by the Judicial Committee; however, pressure from the party representing the Hungarian minority (UDMR)¹, which is in coalition with the ruling party (PSD), made possible its restoration to the agenda. Nevertheless, this compromise was compensated by a countermeasure, according to which official documents for the judicial proceedings are to be issued only in Romanian.

At the beginning the Government initiated this bill with a single reference to language: the language used in courts is Romanian. The UDMR proposed the amendment making possible the usage of minority languages at courts in all those localities where at least 20 percent of the population belong to the ethnic minority. However, this amendment was not approved by the legal committee so Romanian became the sole language of courts in Romania even in the localities with 20 or more percent of the minority population.

There are some places in Romania, like Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc), Transylvania where almost everybody (e. g. more than 95 percent of the population) speaks Hungarian. If they were allowed to use a free interpreter, the judges, lawyers, prosecutors, clerks, witnesses (in most cases ethnic Hungarians) would probably all prefer to speak Hungarian. To respect the law, everything would have to be translated by an official (and free) interpreter into Romanian. This would double the time of all procedures.

UDMR aims to set up separate language court councils where procedures would be either wholly in Romanian or Hungarian.

Parallel to amending the Penal Procedure Code, the Constitution is also undergoing reform in Parliament.

Before the amendments were approved Romanian had been the only language that could be used in Romanian justice and just foreign citizens who did not speak Romanian were provided with a free interpreter. The amended Constitution guarantees that persons belonging to ethnic minorities in Romania who do not speak Romanian have the right to have an interpreter for free in criminal cases and for payment in civil ones.

Source: Mercator News, June 2003, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

Eurolang News, Cluj, June 17, 2003, by Áron Balló, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4279

¹ The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania - a political organization representing Romania's 1.5 to 2 million indigenous ethnic Hungarians (7 percent of the population).

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Updated (August 2003)

GOOD SIGNS FOR MINORITY LANGUAGE USE IN ROMANIAN COURTS

The bill connected with the Penal Code as well as the amendments to the Constitution are well underway and include some rights for the ethnic minorities, particularly the right to use their mother tongue in courts. The amended form of the Constitution; however, is still to be adopted in the autumn.

On June 17, 2003, the House of Representatives and the Lower House of the Romanian Parliament adopted the amendments to the Penal Code, the Penal Procedure Code and the other related laws, which establish that although the official language of the criminal proceedings is Romanian, people belonging to ethnic minorities, including witnesses and experts, can use their mother tongue freely. The state must guarantee a free interpreter for those, who do not speak Romanian in order to allow them to understand the content of the documents or to speak up in court.

Since the Senate has adopted the same version of the amendment, the bill will come into force right after being published in the official gazette (Monitorul Oficial) and it would be applied as of January 1, 2004.

Ervin Székely, an MP from the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) representing Bihar/Bihor County in the judicial committee of the Lower House proposed that the amendment referring to the free use of mother tongue in courts was applied to those courts where practically everybody speaks Hungarian. Thus no interpreter would be necessary and the whole process would not be slowed down by translating everything unnecessarily into Romania.

Article 8 on a free interpreter allows using one's mother tongue anywhere in the country, irrespective of the proportion of the population in a certain area.

Another step in order to guarantee minority language usage in the field of justice is adoption of Article 127 of the Constitution. According to this article, citizens belonging to ethnic minorities would have the right to use their mother tongue in order to express themselves in judicial proceedings, in general.

Source: Eurolang News, Bucharest, August 14, 2003, by Áron Balló, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4367

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Updated (October 2003)

ROMANIANS APPROVED A NEW CONSTITUTION WHICH WILL INCREASE MINORITY LANGUAGE RIGHTS

More than 90 percent of those taking part in the referendum in Romania voted for amending the Constitution. The new Constitution means a more serious legal basis for minority languages in local administration and the possibility to use one's mother tongue in the courts under certain circumstances.

Political parties generally greeted an outcome of the referendum; however, both the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) and the opposition Democrat Party (PD) stressed that the amendments do not mean that the Hungarian language¹ would become the second official language.

The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) welcomed the successful referendum and considered it as a step towards democratic development, EU enlargement and also as an achievement for minorities.

According to the Foundation for Transylvanian Hungarians (FOCMT), more language rights for minorities in local administration and justice mean a leap forward. They think that a country with more than 1.5 million Hungarian speakers who live in compact blocks needs to recognize Hungarian as the second official language.

Nevertheless, Article 148 has not been amended yet and this fact prohibits amending a series of other articles in the Constitution, including the one making Romanian the only official language in Romania.

Source: Eurolang News, Kolozsvár/Cluj, October 20, 2003, by Áron Balló, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4445

¹ Spoken by more than 1.5 million of Romania's 21 million population

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Updated (January 2004)

MINORITY LANGUAGE USE IN THE COURTS

There has been another step forward in minority language use in court. The Romanian Senate has confirmed the decision of the Law Committee of the Upper House of Parliament on Article 11 of the Bill on Court Procedure. According to this, Romanian minority language speakers have the right to use their mother tongue in the courts. A free translator has to be provided by court when one or all parties requested it. If all parties want to use a minority language, the trial has to be carried out in that language.

However, all documents and records connected with a trial still have to be written in Romanian. Objections to the records, or to the translation into Romanian, coming from any side have to be clarified and solved by court before finalizing a case.

Source: Eurolang News, Kolozsvár/Cluj, December 19, 2003, by Áron Balló, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4551

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Updated (March 2004)

AN AUTONOMY BILL LAUNCHED FOR THE ROMANIA'S HUNGARIAN SPEAKERS

A Bill for the Autonomy of Szeklerland, introduced in the Romanian Parliament at the end of February 2004 by the representatives of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), offers equality of the Romanian and Hungarian language.

The Szekler National Council (CNS), an NGO that embodies the autonomy ambitions of the ethnic Hungarians living in eastern Transylvania, is behind the bill. Such autonomy would equalize the Hungarian language with the official (Romanian) language in administration, justice, education and culture at all levels throughout the autonomous Szeklerland Region. Civil servants would be employed only if they spoke both Romanian and Hungarian. The regional administration would have the right to veto national laws if they endangered the use of the Hungarian language.

However, most Romanian political parties disagreed with the bill and even the ethnic Hungarian MPs had different views on it and its timing. The RMDSZ caucuses in the two Houses of Parliament agreed with autonomy, nevertheless, they found its content not modern enough, untimely and without an adequate structure. They also criticized their colleagues who launched the bill for not having respected the usual procedure and for having abused voters' confidence, as they themselves saw no chance for this bill to be adopted.

Source: Eurolang News, Kolosvár/Cluj, March 15, 2004, Áron Balló, http://www.eurolang.net

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Updated (May 2004)

Public service broadcasting is required by law to promote the values of the Romanian language as well as the language of the German, Hungarian, Roma and Ukrainian minority living in the country.

Television programs in languages other than Romanian must be translated into Romanian (subtitles, dubbing or simultaneous translation). The exceptions to this general rule are only music videos and educational programs for teaching foreign languages.

In the localities where a national minority comprises more than 20 percent of the population, program service suppliers are required by legislation to provide certain retransmission services in the languages of the minority in question.

THE 2002 LAW ON RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING (Law No. 504 of July 11, 2002)

This law annulled and replaced the Law on Radio and Television Broadcasting (No. 48/1992). The most relevant provisions of this law are as follows:

Article 3

(1) Political and social pluralism, cultural, linguistic and religious diversity, information, education and public entertainment are accomplished and ensured by the transmission and retransmission of program services observing the freedoms and fundamental rights of the person.

Article 10

(3) The National Audio-Visual Council must ensure the following as the warrantor of the public interest in the field of audio-visual communications:

f) the protection of the Romanian culture and language, as well as the culture and languages of ethnical minorities;

Article 17

(1) The Council is authorized:

d) to issue for the application of the provisions from this Law, regulatory normative decisions in order to accomplish its attributions as expressly stipulated in this Law and mainly in regard to:

- the monitoring of the correct expression in the Romanian language and in the languages of national minorities;

- non-discriminatory policies regarding race, sex, nationality, religion, political beliefs and sexual orientation;

- cultural responsibilities of radio-broadcasters;

Article 82

(4) In localities where a national minority is larger than 20 percent, the suppliers shall also ensure transmission services for the programs free to retransmission, in the language of the respective minority.

DECISION NO. 23 OF THE NATIONAL AUDIOVISUAL COUNCIL OF MARCH 1999 REGARDING THE TRANSLATION INTO THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE OF CERTAIN TV PROGRAMMES BROADCAST IN OTHER LANGUAGE [SIC]

Article 1

TV programs broadcast under authorization, via satellite or radio electric means from the territory of Romania and received on the territory of Romania, in another language than Romanian, shall be compulsorily translated to the Romanian language. Translation shall be provided by subtitles, dubbing or by simultaneous translation. [...]

Article 2

Programs broadcast directly in a language other than Romanian, according to the programs chart mentioned in the technical conditions of the station, whose translation into Romanian might affect their continuity, will be retransmitted with Romanian subtitles in case they are broadcast in replay.

Article 3

Musical videos and parts of the lessons of foreign languages, which by their conception do not need translations, are excluded from the stipulations in Art. 1.

TRANSFRONTIER DIMENSION

Romania signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on February 1, 1995 and ratified it on May 11, 1995 with Law No. 33/1995.

An access of minority members to broadcasts in their own languages across the border is not restricted, and there are no restrictions with regard to particular languages. Bilateral treaties that Romania has signed with its neighbors (Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia) have provisions guaranteeing the minorities free and unlimited access to the media in their own language. The following list of treaties includes provisions regarding the linguistic rights and access to broadcasting of the persons belonging to the national minorities in Romania.

THE 1997 ROMANIAN - UKRAINIAN TREATY

Article 13

(7) The parties will respect the rights of the persons belonging to a national minority to have access to information and mass-media in their own language, and to freely change and broadcast information that will not create obstacles with regard to the establishment and operation by these persons of their own mass media outlets, in accordance with the internal legislation of each of the parties.

THE 1996 ROMANIAN - YUGOSLAVIAN TREATY

Article 20

Protection of the Serb national minority means the protection of their ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity.

THE 1993 ROMANIAN - SLOVAK TREATY

Article 20

Protection of national minorities is in accordance with the Documents of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe and with the generally recognized principles of the international law.

THE 1992 ROMANIAN - GERMAN TREATY

Article 15

Protection of national minorities is in accordance with the Documents of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe and with the Documents of Copenhagen Human Dimension Meeting.

(2) [...] persons belonging to the German minority, meaning the Romanians of German descent, especially have the right, individually or together with the other members of their group, to free expression in order to maintain and develop their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity.

THE ROMANIAN - HUNGARIAN TREATY

Article 15

(3) The parties will respect the right of the persons belonging to the Romanian minority in Hungary and to the Hungarian minority in Romania, to use freely their mother tongue, both in private and in public, orally or in writing [...].

(4) The parties will respect the right of the persons belonging to a national minority to have access to information and broadcasting, electronic networks and the press in their own language, as well as the right to freely change and broadcast information. It will be possible for these persons to set up and run their own broadcasting stations, according to the internal legislation of each of the States.

Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf

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Updated (August 2004)

THE LAW ON ETHNIC MINORITIES IN ROMANIA LIKELY TO BE ADOPTED NEXT YEAR

Parliamentary representatives of ethnic minorities living in Romania intend to initiate the creation of a bill on ethnic minorities.

Although various laws (on education, local administration or justice) containing some articles on ethnic minorities already exist, there is still the need for one piece of legislation on minorities clarifying the basic things like the definition of an ethnic minority or a separation of NGOs and minority political organizations. Some even hope that the bill will be enacted this year, although the year 2005 seems to be more probable, as the year 2004 is an election year.

Since 1989 nine legislative initiatives on ethnic minorities have been presented in Romania, but they were either not accepted by all minorities, or were not discussed in Parliament.

One of the earlier proposals initiated by the representatives of Romania's largest ethnic minority (the Hungarians), called the Law on National Minorities and Autonomous Communities, was introduced to the Lower House of the Parliament in 1993, but was never discussed.

In 1998, after the Department for the Protection of Minorities was set up by the government¹, language experts began to examine minority laws in other countries in order to devise a Romanian version.

In May 2004, the Interethnic Relations Department (DRI) of the General Secretariat of the government organized an international seminar in Mangalia where the representatives of all twenty officially recognized ethnic minorities in Romania agreed that such a bill has to be adopted before the end of the year.

The law is also supposed to clarify the role of the Council of National Minorities in Romania set up in 1993. Since 2001 it has been functioning as a consultative body to the government under the Ministry (later Department) of Public Information.

Out of all officially recognized minorities in Romania, the numerically strongest ethnic Hungarians have their own parliamentary representation, while the other nineteen minorities are organized into eighteen parliamentary organizations (the Czechs and the Slovaks share one), each of them having a representative in the Parliament.

In order to prepare the draft law the Minorities Protection Office (the former Department for the Protection of Minorities), as well as the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) consulted Hungarian and Serbian minority laws, the European institutions and all the ethnic minority organizations in Romania.

The new bill will most probably be based on an amended version of the 1993 legislative initiative of RMDSZ.

Source: Eurolang News, Kolozsvár/Cluj, August 12, 2004, by Áron Balló, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4736

¹ In 1997.

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Updated (November 2004)

THE 2004 REPORT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

On October 6, 2004 the European Commission made public its 2004 Regular Report on Romania's progress towards accession. The report concluded that Romania continues to fulfill the political criteria and to respect and protect national minorities.

The Law on Bilingual Signs has been applied, including the localities where minorities constitute less than 20 percent of the population (the threshold set up by the law). After the constitutional revision introducing the right of citizens to use their mother tongue in civil court cases, Hungarian began to be used extensively in certain areas.

The Law on the Statute of Police Officers allows recruitment of the officers speaking minority languages, but their number remains relatively low.

As regards pre-university education in minority languages, there was a slight decrease in the number of educational units and students being educated in their mother tongue in academic year 2003-2004. The decrease is probably connected with demographic trends, as there was no change in education policy. There is a private Hungarian University in Cluj, with branches in Miercurea Ciuc, Oradea and Târgu Mure. A protocol to establish two Hungarian faculties at the Cluj State University was approved at governmental level; however, it has not yet been implemented. The Hungarian language is taught as an optional subject in ten communes.

On the other hand, the representatives of ethnic minorities in Parliament are not satisfied with the fact that the Ministry of Education has not published so far any schoolbooks for other minorities than the Hungarians and Germans; it only re-published books from before 1989. To fill this gap the Serbian minority proposed to use schoolbooks published in Serbia.

Concerning the latest parliamentary activities in Romania related to minority issues, on October 22, 2004 the Government approved a bill aimed to help ethnic Romanians living abroad, as well as their descendants, to preserve their cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious identity. These cultural and educational benefits will be extended also to members of national minorities who emigrated from Romania, such as Jews or ethnic Germans. The bill is to be debated and approved in Parliament.

Source: Mercator News, October 2004, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

DRIVING LICENSE EXAMS IN MOTHER TONGUE

On August 30, 2004 the Chamber of Deputies passed the draft law on authorizing G.E.O no. 195/2000 regarding the new Traffic Code. The normative paper aims at complying Romanian legislation with that of the European Union.

Thus, the plenum of the Chamber passed also an amendment proposed by the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) deputies Istvan Antal and Istvan Erdei Doliczki (indent (3) of Article 24), which stipulates that the courses on traffic rules as well as a driving license exam can be held in a minority language on demand.

Source: Minelres News, September 7, 2004, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2004-September/003558.html, Divers Bulletin No. 30 (113) / September 6, 2004, Bucharest

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Updated (December 2004)

THE NEW LAW ON THE USE OF THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE

On November 12, 2004 Romanian Parliament adopted the Law on the use of the Romanian Language in Public Places, Relations and Institutions. This law regulates oral and written use of Romanian in the public sphere according to the academic rules currently in force. It also establishes that any text in a foreign language having character of public interest¹ must be translated into the Romanian language (Article 1).

The law also provides that television broadcasts in foreign languages from Romanian TV networks or from foreign TV networks with a license in Romania must be subtitled in Romanian or, in cases of emergency, they shall be accompanied by a simultaneous translation (Article 3).

Moreover, names, instructions and other explanations with relevance for Romanian consumers written in a foreign language must be also translated into Romanian (Article 4).

As regards the languages of national minorities, Article 5 specifies what is excluded from the law:

3. publications written completely or partially in foreign languages, including those of national minorities,
5. radio broadcasts in the languages of national minorities,
6. live television broadcasts in the languages of national minorities, and
7. religious, ethnographic and entertainment broadcasts in the languages of national minorities made by local and regional TV networks.

Source: Mercator News, December 2004, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

¹ any text displayed, exposed, broadcasted or spoken in public places or by the mass media (Article 2)

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Updated (January 2005)

THE LAW REGARDING THE USE OF THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS, INSTITUTIONS AND PLACES

The Law Regarding the use of the Romanian Language in Public Relations, Institutions and Places was adopted on November 17, 2004. The law regulates spoken or written use of the official language in the public sphere.

Any text in a foreign language having character of public interest must be translated or adapted to the Romanian language.

Publications, TV and radio programs in the languages of national minorities and legislation regarding the rights of national minorities to preserve, develop and express their linguistic identity are excepted from the scope of the law.

Source: Selection of recently added documents in MIRIS (Newsletter 7 — November 2004) — www.eurac.edu/miris

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Updated (February 2005)

NEW GOVERNMENT SET TO ACT IN FAVOR OF MINORITIES

At the beginning of the year 2005 the new Romanian Government introduced its ambitious program aimed besides other things also at improving the situation of ethnic minorities living in the country.

The new governmental program supports the development of education in a mother tongue, the establishment of minority language faculties within state universities, the adoption of the Law on Minorities and the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This program also takes into consideration the elements of cultural autonomy for minority language speakers¹.

The Hungarian minority's demand to have a 24-hour Hungarian-language public television and radio channel is now backed by the government, which has four ethnic Hungarian Ministers (the Minister of Culture, Education and European Integration, the Minister of Commerce, the Minister of Communication and Information Technology and the Minister of Public Works and Territorial Arrangements).

Source: Eurolang News, Cluj/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, January 18, 2005, by Áron Balló, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4881

¹ One of the conditions why the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) joined the ruling coalition. The RMDSZ promised its voters to achieve cultural autonomy in the coming four years.

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Updated (March 2005)

A NEW DRAFT LAW ON NATIONAL MINORITIES

A new draft Law on National Minorities, prepared by Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) representatives, was publicly debated at the end of February.

According to the head of the Department for Interethnic Relations, Marko Attila, the law will regulate the principle of non-discrimination, equality of chances and the use of the mother tongue in private and public sphere. The aim of legislators is to draw up a code of national minorities and to reunite already existing regulations with those planned in this domain.

The draft will also define the status of a national minority because it is important to distinguish it from that of an ethnic minority. This will allow differentiating between traditional minorities living in Romania for centuries and emigrants and refugees. The law should regulate the issue of representation in Parliament¹.

According to UDMR representatives, the Law of National Minorities will be enacted by the end of this parliamentary session (in June).

Source: Minelres News, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2005-February/003828.html

ROMANIAN MINORITIES TO BENEFIT FROM LOWER PARLIAMENTARY HURDLE

According to the decision of the parliamentary commission from August 17, 2004, the organizations representing national minorities in the Lower House must garner only 3,500 votes to gain representation; meanwhile, the other candidates must collect between 20,000 and 25,000 votes.

This decision changed the legislation adopted by the Senate in June 2004, which had raised considerably the threshold for parliamentary representation of national minorities.

Source: MINELRES News, August 24, 2004, in Divers Bulletin No. 28 (111)/August 23, 2004, Bucharest

1. At present, there are 18 minorities in the Chamber of Deputies.

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Updated (May 2005)

A DRAFT LAW ON MINORITIES IN ROMANIA WILL SEE THE LIGHT SOON

In April 2005, experts of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDS) completed the draft law on minorities, which recently has been made public. The RMDS distributed the draft to the senators of this party, as well as to NGOs, youth organizations, etc. In accordance with the usual legislative process, the law in its final form will be passed in the spring.

As defined by the RMDS, the draft intends to be a framework law, which regulates the use of mother tongue and the right to education and culture in mother tongue. Specifically, the law defines those national minorities that can be regarded as traditional and historical due to their long-lasting coexistence with the Romanian majority. Moreover, it introduces for the first time the concept of a national community and describes national minorities as a state-forming factor.

The draft law also defines the status of minority organizations: a minority organization can take part in political life and local and parliamentary elections.

However, the most important element of this law is the establishment of a legal framework for the practice of cultural autonomy. Therefore, if the draft law is finally passed, minorities will have the right to found independent cultural, educational and media institutions and they will supervise their functioning.

Source: Mercator News, April 2005, http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/index-gb.htm

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Updated (June 2005)

ETHNIC MINORITY BILL WILL GIVE CULTURAL AUTONOMY

At least one house of the Romanian Parliament is to adopt the bill on the statute of ethnic minorities before the summer recess. Adoption by the other house is expected in the autumn session.

The bill initiated by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (the RMDSZ) and supported by the Government, establishes cultural autonomy for ethnic minorities living in the country based on language, educational, cultural and religious rights and supervised by minority autonomy councils. Representatives of the internal opposition of the Romania's largest ethnic Hungarian minority, however, found the bill minimalist, disadvantageous for smaller minorities and anti-democratic.

The Government adopted the draft bill after RMDSZ officials succeeded in clearing away all obstacles, especially those coming from the Ministers of Culture and Justice. These two ministries disliked the fact that the future minority autonomy councils would be able to "authorize" any decision of the authorities - thus implying specific cultural rights for ethnic minorities. The wording in the text was later changed to "agree on" and the Government members voted for it unanimously.

The bill banns changing of the ethnic composition in a region by administrative or direct means and setting up of voting districts in a disadvantageous way for ethnic minorities.

The bill also grants ethnic minorities the right to study all subjects, except for the Romanian language, in their mother tongue and to have their own school principals or deputy principals. No minority-language school section or form can be closed without consulting the minority councils. These councils, set up at local, county and national levels, will be able to appoint minority-language TV and radio chiefs as well.

A considerable part of the bill focuses on language rights. It establishes language as one of the most important elements of identity of an ethnic group, in addition to culture, cultural heritage and religion. The bill prevents authorities from discriminating against anybody for using their mother tongue.

Different chapters of the bill guarantee the right of minorities to be educated in their mother tongue on all levels, including separate higher educational institutions. It offers substantial autonomy for cultural institutions in minority languages and requires the state to support and promote them.

The minorities are guaranteed the right to have nationwide TV and radio broadcasting and larger minorities even daylong radio and TV programs managed by themselves.

The bill defines what kind of documents have to be issued bilingually, what institutions have to employ minority language speakers, and that prisoners should not be prevented from using their mother tongue. It confirms existing regulations regarding education and culture and recognizes Romania's twenty ethnic minorities. A new element is the stipulation of cultural autonomy by law and setting up of the bodies that will be in charge of managing the cultural life of minorities - the Cultural Autonomy National Councils.

A council may have 7 to 91 members, the latter for an ethnic minority numbering over one million. In administrative units where at least 1 percent of the population belongs to an ethnic minority, but with no representation in a local government, minority autonomy councils have the right to initiate discussions on minority issues in the local government.

The bill was almost instantly criticized by the opposition and objections also came from the Hungarian minority's own opposition, from other minorities and human rights activists. The Transylvanian Hungarian National Council (CNMT, an NGO for the autonomy of the ethnic Hungarians in Romania) said the proposed bill was nothing more but a codification into a system of what had already existed. However, the biggest deficiency of the bill was that existing parliamentary ethnic minority organizations could dominate over other organizations from the same ethnicity. For example, a parliamentary ethnic minority organization would be in charge of internal elections for that minority, which in theory could disadvantage other groups.

Source: Eurolang News, Kolozsvár/Cluj/Klausenburg, June 1, 2005, by Áron Balló, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=5044

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Updated (July 2005)

THE LAW ON ETHNIC MINORITIES

At the end of May 2005 the Romanian government approved (see also the update for June) the draft legislation on national minorities. Based on this legislation the Romanian minorities would have the following rights:

• Ethnic minorities will be able to study in their native languages at all levels, from kindergartens to universities.

• The state must guarantee mother tongue education in separate institutions or separate groups. New classes in kindergartens and primary and middle schools can be set up for no more than ten children. For fifteen students a class in high schools and artistic and vocational schools has to be launched. In addition, exams can be taken in one's mother tongue.

• Minorities will receive funds from the state and local budget to create educational institutions in their native language. Religious groups can also become involved in education in minority languages.

• The legislation also says that authorities are to take into account the will of a minority in all discussions concerning its rights. Legislative or administrative measures, which can change the ethnic mixture of any particular region, are forbidden.

• Minorities have the right to set up cultural associations and promote their culture abroad. Public TV and radio stations can provide space for shows in minority languages.

• According to the draft legislation, the officially recognized minorities in Romania are: Albanian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Czech, Croat, Greek, Jewish, German, Italian, Macedonian, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Roma, Serbian, Slovakian, Tatar, Turkish and Ukrainian. The draft, however, does not allow other national minorities to officially register in Romania and set up their own organizations.

Source: Minelres News, June 1, 2005, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2005-June/004022.html, DIVERS, Divers Bulletin No. 20 (148)/May 30, 2005, Bucharest

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Updated (June 2007)

EVERYBODY WILL HAVE TO SPEAK ROMANIAN

If the Romanian Parliament adopts a new bill proposed by the Conservative Party, everybody living in Romania will be obliged to take a language test which will prove their knowledge of the Romanian language - the official language of the country.

"If someone does not speak Romanian, he or she will have to learn it - people will have no other choice if they want to live in Romania", said Dan Voiculescu, President of the Conservative Party. Mr.Voiculescu had announced earlier that his party would propose legislation to withdraw citizenship from anybody not speaking Romanian.

His words were addressed especially to Hungarians: "I will fight in order to get every and each Hungarian to learn Romanian". He has also reacted angrily against legal provisions that oblige civil servants to communicate in Hungarian with members of the Hungarian minority in settlements where their proportion reaches a certain percentage.

Even if such a law were adopted, it would be impossible to force it exclusively on national minorities because of the prohibition in collecting ethnicity-related data, stipulated in a number of European conventions that were incorporated into domestic law by Romania during the EU accession process.

Source: Eurolang News, June 26, 2007 by Judit Solymosi http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2913&Itemid=1&lang=en

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