Complicated Hungarian electoral ordination caused that it was not until Saturday, 18 April that we met the full results of the elections in Hungary, which showed that the opposition TISZA (and shortly the ruling country over the Danube) gained a majority in the National Assembly there.
141 mandates will let them not only to change the constitution, but besides those laws that needed a majority of 2/3 to change them. Contrary to the announcements of many political scientists, representatives of the German and Roma number will not be present in the parliament building built between 1885 and 1904. A advanced voter turnout, which reached nearly 80%, contributed to this. However, it is worth looking at the solutions that the Brothers utilized in this issue in the case of both parliamentary elections and the local government of national minorities.
A small communicative first. Changes in local government in Hungary were a consequence of the political changes that were made in that country in 1989 as part of the alleged tripartite circular table (managing, opposition, trade unions). The restoration of local government occurred that year, erstwhile Chapter IX was added to the Constitution, which states that residents of municipalities, cities, capital and its districts and residents of voivodships form local government units of the appropriate basic and higher level. The erstwhile consists of a municipality, and the advanced level is the region – the equivalent of the Polish voivodship.
At the same time as local government reform, the foundations of the strategy of protection of national minorities began to be established. A year later, in 1990, the Constitution introduced a provision Appointing Parliamentary Ombudsman for National and cultural Minorities, whose task is "to control and analyse the rights of national minorities and cultural irregularities".
It is characteristic that already in the Polish-Hungarian cultural and technological exchange agreement of 1992 the concept of Polish cultural group is used, even though the Act defining cultural rights entered into force 12 months later. The next step on this issue was the 1993 passed Act on National and cultural Minorities (Law No LXXVII on the Rights of National and cultural Minorities). It introduced a fresh component on the local government stage, namely the local government of the national number – local government at the level of the municipality and voivodship and the national government.
To cultural groups settled in Hungary that can benefit from the benefits of the Act, according to Article 61: Bulgarian, Greek, Croatian, Polish, German, Armenian, Roma, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian. According to Article 21, individual minorities can make number local governments in municipalities, cities and districts of the capital.
The Act introduces favourable solutions for authentic number communities. In order to prevent the alleged ‘ethnobusiness’, i.e. the candidacy of non-members of a given national minority, a provision was introduced in the law to grant the right to social organisations exclusive recommendations to candidates for local councils. According to the law, the elections to the local number self-government will be listed erstwhile at least 30 people with Hungarian citizenship are enrolled on the electoral list and at least 5 candidates entered in the voting list in the order specified by the draw alternatively than alphabetically. On the another hand, number government in a given voivodship creates at least 10 local governments.
In addition, on 13 May 2009, a Forum of National and cultural Minorities was established in Budapest in Hungary, with 13 representatives of national minorities and representatives of parliamentary Hungarian parties. The aim of the Forum is to support culture, traditions and identities, as well as the improvement of national minorities, and the consultative nature in the process of creating the applicable law. Its members have only the right to participate as guests in the meetings of individual parliamentary committees.
The aforementioned rights are besides utilized by the Polish cultural group in the Republic of Hungary. It should be recalled that the first documented traces of Poles surviving in Hungary appeared already in the late mediate Ages. This increased peculiarly in the late 19th century as part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. St. Stefan's Crown was an attractive country for Poles to settle for hundreds of years, especially in the 19th century, when, for example, Budapest was the fastest increasing city in the planet after Chicago, and examples of Polish settlement can be found, for example, in the Budapeszta territory of Kőbánya or in Istvánmajor. This very short historical image shows that the Polish settlement was not an accident. This is peculiarly crucial due to the fact that the National Minorities Act requires more than 100 years of settlement in Hungary.
As has been mentioned, it was only the democratic parliamentary elections in 1990 that laid the foundations for the reactivation of the 1950s and the establishment of fresh socio-cultural organisations. Even at the beginning, the only typical of Polish interests was Józef Bem Polish Cultural Association. At the turn of 1992-1993, the second Polish organization began to operate. Association of Polish Catholics in Hungary St. Wojciech. respective another organisations were created, but the fundamental change brought about 1995, erstwhile Polish self-government in Hungary was established under the number law.
The expression of Poles' aspirations became National Local Government of the Polish number (OSMP). At that time local number governments were established in Emód (Istvanmajor) in 1994 and Budapest in 1995. As a consequence of complementary elections, local governments were created in 3 districts of Budapest (in IV, IX and XIV) and in the cities of Esztergom and Tatabanya.
Currently, the main Polish organizations in Hungary are: the National Government of the Polish number in Hungary, the Capital Government of the Polish number in Hungary, the Polish Cultural Association named after Józef Bem, the Association of Polish Catholics in Hungary named after St.
Already in 1997, representatives of the Hungarian Polish Ministry of Education laid down the concept of creating a national Polish-speaking supplementary school operating throughout Hungary, with Sunday schools being converted into wards of that school. The advantage of this proposal was to include Polish education in the Hungarian education system, to harmonise and rise the level of teaching, and to increase the financial stableness of the institution through a grant from the central budget, alternatively than inexpensive remnants from the Ministry of Education's budget. A corresponding amendment to the bill was adopted by Parliament in 1999. It gives number self-governments which do not yet be the anticipation to create, keep and supervise supplementary number schools by national number governments, without Hungarian local administrative offices. Among the benefits of the Polish initiative were the Bulgarian and Greek minority.
Taking advantage of the benefits of the Act – the National Government of the Polish number established the National School of Poland in Hungary on 1 September 2004 to supplement the state school under the Ministry of Education and Culture. The facility operates throughout Hungary, in the following towns: Budapest, Pécs, Kaposvár, Békéscsaba, Szentendre, Dunaújváros, Székesfehérvár, Csór, Veszprém, and its branches are located in cities where there are larger clusters of Poles and where there utilized to be Polish Sunday schools. On average, 180 children per year usage the Polish educational facility. The assessments made in the TSO shall besides be entered on the Hungarian certificate. The student has the chance to receive an exemption from 1 of the 2 compulsory abroad languages for the benefit of Polish, and his good cognition creates the anticipation to pass a matriculation from the subject to another. Since 1997, the National Government of the Polish number has provided backing for the facility. Another initiative of OSMP was the creation of the Museum and Archives of Hungarian Polonia, as an institution gathering and documenting traces of the presence of our compatriots on Hungarian lands.
However, these positives are besides accompanied by negative factors. The main channel of financing of the Polish number self-government is direct grants transferred to the national government from the central state budget, for example from the funds of the Presidential Office of the Capital City of Budapest. Well, most of the financial resources are allocated to self-government activities and local government organisations are subsidised much less.
Polish diaspora attaches peculiar importance to the media, both conventional ones, as well as the press, radio and television, and electronic ones. As regards the Polish national number in Hungary, it has 2 titles: 2 weeks ‘Polonian Magazine” and the monthly ‘Hungarian PoloniaIt’s okay. ” Next to the magazines, Poles are guaranteed 30 minutes a week of their programme on Hungarian public radio. In addition, a 52-minute "Rondo" programme is broadcast on public tv (MTV 1), divided into six Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Polish, Lutheran and Ukrainian national minorities. Moreover, the Polish number has its net portal (Polonia.hu) where you can find information from its life, celebrations and events. It is edited by p. God of God, Shadai, working in the section of Polish Hungarian radio. Welsh number media expert Net Thomas believes that radio and tv in number language is simply a essential condition for the endurance of these communities. As you can see, the Polish cultural group makes full usage of its rights and tries to usage modern media to confirm these words.
However, let us return to the parliamentary elections. In both 2018 and 2022 only a German number introduced its typical to the Hungarian National Assembly. During his 2022-2026 term, he was Imre Ritter, who fundamentally supported the ruling FIDESZ-KDNP coalition.
Each of the 13 cultural groups mentioned, among others, in the Act on National and cultural Minorities may issue a separate, closed national list. This was the case in those elections where almost all national minorities benefited from this right. To do so, you request to support from at least 1% of the minorities entitled to vote, with a minimum of 1500 signatures. Only a Serbian number did not registry their national list.
Unfortunately, there is no anticipation for respective different minorities to make common letters, as well as voting on another minorities. Interestingly, the Hungarian Election Commission approved in March this year a list submitted by the National Government of Poland in Hungary (Országos Lengyel Önkormányzat – OLÖ). 3 people were placed on the list. The Polish list did not receive the required number of votes to cover the full parliamentary mandate. Her leader, Iwona Tóthné Szegedi he will become a spokesperson for the Polish number in the parliament. In specified a case, she will be able to participate in Parliament's deliberations, talk on matters concerning Polish nationality and work in committees. However, there is no right to vote in plenary votes of the Assembly. As regards the Polish national minority, it was not possible to get a full parliamentary mandate. It was only 147 votes in the full of Hungary (less received only a Bulgarian minority).
However, in the case of the German and Roma minorities, small was left to get a mandate. Under Hungarian law, each national group (who resides in Hungary for a minimum of 100 years) must accomplish the alleged preferential amount (approximately 0.27% of all national votes) in order to get a full parliamentary mandate. The national election cannot then vote for the Hungarian national lists, but can vote for 1 of the candidates in the single-mandate district.
The turnout was crucial in this case. A full of 8,112,646 people were eligible to vote. Turnout was 79.56 percent, i.e. 6 454 421 Hungarians voted. It was so not until all the votes cast were calculated that the German or Roma number had not obtained a mandate. The list of minorities must scope the voting threshold corresponding to at least 1 4th of the average votes required to get the standard parliamentary list mandate – usually around 22,000 to 25,000 votes. The Roma gained 18,880 votes on their list of national minorities (nationally). 17.845 voted on the list of German minorities. As you can see, the number of voters registered in number lists has decreased, due to the advanced rate of these elections, where many number voters have decided to support Viktor Orbán or his challenger Pétera Magyar in a general vote, alternatively of giving the number vote. Interestingly, in the erstwhile 2 terms, Germany had its typical in the Hungarian Parliament.
It is simply a pity that another minorities cannot block votes due to the fact that the needs of the first 2 minorities are importantly different from the another smaller cultural groups. This could be an interesting electoral experience if the Fraternity home of Slavic Minorities was created for the Hungarian National Assembly. Especially since the objectives and needs of another national minorities are sometimes diverging than those of the 2 largest national groups which had a chance to receive a mandate.
The Hungarian solution for national minorities is simply a unique European model of representation that combines broad cultural autonomy with direct presence in parliament. Is this the best model I can tell you. It would surely be worth it if the Polish authorities started to support the Polish number more powerfully in Hungary so that in subsequent elections there would be more votes on its list than those 100 and dozen. In the media space, among others, the main issue of “News” on M1 tv revealed that Bank PKO BP intends to enter the Hungarian marketplace either by beginning its branch or buying 1 of the banks in that country. This is most likely a good step in the expansion of this entity, especially since a Polish bank supporting our fellow countrymen in purchasing real estate, especially with its location outside Budapest and Balaton, would be an interesting solution. At that time, PBO BP authorities should besides consider financial support of Polish institutions within the framework of number government, and there is simply quite a few this from kindergartens to schools on Polish media.
Robert Trzaska
Robert Trzaska – socialist, associate of the Society of past Lovers, activist of the Warsaw athletics Association. Lover of east Borders and the Balkans. Its favourite cities are Budapest and Lviv. He is passionate about the past of the Second Republic, with peculiar emphasis on Polish-Hungarian relations, as well as the past of football at the time, especially in relation to Warsaw. Recently, he devotes his free time to the past of Polish football in Latvia.
Think Poland, No. 19-20 (10-17.05.2016)
