Romania: Hungarian inscriptions will be mandatory on public buildings and works of art
In Romania, the Hungarian Democratic Alliance of Romania (Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ) announced on Monday that it is now mandatory to inscribe in Hungarian on all plaques, public monuments and works of art that are in some way connected to the Hungarian community.
The amendment about national minorities
The statement drew attention to a provision on national minorities in a recent amendment to the law, which was voted through by parliament and promulgated last week. It stipulates that any public inscription referring to a historical event, a personality or a building that no longer exists, which is linked to a national minority, must be compulsorily displayed in the language of that minority.
This regulation should be applied not only in settlements where the proportion of the Hungarian minority exceeds the 20 percent threshold for the use of the mother tongue set by the Administrative Act, but in all settlements where a monument or a memorial plaque is placed in connection with Hungarian minority, the statement emphasised, quoting Ödön Szabó, deputy leader of the RMDSZ parliamentary group.
Easier to display such works now
Another significant innovation of the amendment is that it decentralises much of the procedure for displaying such works. Instead of obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Culture, it will be sufficient to obtain the approval of the department’s county branch. This approval is issued on the recommendation of the local body of the National Commission for Public Monuments.
The law also includes the creation of a website where all public works of art can be found, and the inscriptions will be accompanied by QR codes to provide further information to those interested.
Source: mti.hu