It is important that Hungarian citizens from beyond the borders should register for participating in the parliamentary elections to be held next year in the largest possible numbers, Árpád János Potápi, Minister of State for Nation Policy at the Prime Minister’s Office said in Gödöllő, at the opening of the Summer University entitled Minority Protection in Europe held on Monday.
Some 350 thousand people have already registered, and as one million Hungarian citizenship requests have been received to date, the number of those registering for the vote may reach half a million, the Minister of State said. It is an historic opportunity to exercise the franchise, and Hungarian nationals should not only register, but should also take part in the elections, he highlighted. He added: it is important that Hungarian communities beyond the borders should also be represented in the Hungarian Parliament, and that the Hungarian Government in office as at any time should be aware that its legitimacy stems from the entire larger community of Hungarian people.
In his opening speech, the Minister of State also spoke about the fact that the Hungarian State must be able to give prompt replies to the questions that may emerge, and in many cases prompt interventions are required. „Those who are in any way attacked must be protected by the Hungarian State”, he pointed out. The goal is that should a Hungarian anywhere in the world sustain any legal injury, the Hungarian State must be able to respond immediately, he said.
Mr Potápi further told his audience that a number of countries and nations are closely observing Hungary’s nation policy, and wish to adopt several elements of the Hungarian system.
The Minister of State said that the kindergarten development programme in the Carpathian Basin will continue next year, and they seek to achieve that every Hungarian child should attend Hungarian crèches, kindergartens and schools, and to this end, it is necessary to reinforce the system of educational institutions also in scattered communities wherever this is possible.
It is likewise important to support advancement in one’s native land, he said, adding that economic development and economic grants are becoming increasingly important. He reiterated: 2016 was the year of young Hungarian entrepreneurs beyond the borders, while 2017 is the year of Hungarian family businesses beyond the borders.
The strategic goal of nation policy is for the nation to increase in numbers, economic strength and in a legal sense, Mr Potápi said in summary.
György Csóti, Director of the Institute for the Protection of Minority Rights reiterated in his welcome speech that the Institute provides assistance for Hungarians beyond the borders in the area of legal security. Education, further training and the operation of a permanent network of legal aid services in the Carpathian Basin all serve this goal.
Hungary’s post-2010 nation policy is characterised by professionalism and the emergence of specific policies, Zoltán Kántor, Director of the Research Institute for Nation Policy said in his welcome speech.
Mr Kántor told the Hungarian news agency MTI: the one-week Summer University organised by the two Institutes will be attended by some thirty students working in the area of or interested in the protection of minority rights, primarily from the neighbouring countries, but there are attendees from the motherland as well. There is increasingly greater emphasis at the Summer University organised since 2012 on practical issues and the human rights activities of civil-society organisations, and a number of civil-society organisations from beyond the borders share their experiences with the attendees.