Bill on autonomy of Szeklerland gets tacit approval in Chamber

A bill on the autonomy of the Szeklerland has passed the Chamber of Deputies by tacit approval and it will move on to the Senate, which is the decision-making body in this case.

As the deadline for a debate and vote in the Chamber of Deputies ran out, and the chamber found the tacit adoption of the draft in a sitting of April 23, the legislative proposal passed as submitted by the initiators - Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) MPs Kulcsar-Terza Jozsef-Gyorgy and Biro Zsolt-Istvan. The Committee on Administration had issued a negative opinion on the bill.

The project provides for the Szeklerland to become an autonomous region with a legal personality.

The autonomy of the Szeklerland, adopted by law, shall be put up for a referendum of the citizens of the Szeklerland, according to the bill.

The bill provides for the counties of Covasna, Harghita and a part of Mures County to make up an autonomous region with a legal personality inside Romania. It sets out the boundaries of the territory that would become the Szeklerland, for which it provides its own administrative organisation, with a public administration and institutions at all levels, conferring specific powers, the use of the Hungarian language as the official language of the Szeklerland and of symbols of the Hungarian nation.

The bill also proposes that regional autonomy be exercised by a self-administration council, a regional public administration elected by universal, equal, direct, secret and free vote, as well as by a self-administration commission designated by it. The bill also defines the following central public administration entities of the Szeklerland: the Self-Administration Council, the Self-Administration Commission, the President of the Szeklerland; entities of the seat - the Council, the Commission, and the President, along with the local public administration: the Communal Council, Town Council, City Council, and the Mayor's Office.

The Administrative Committee of the Chamber of Deputies has drawn up a report rejecting the legislative proposal on the grounds that it "as a whole, it runs contrary to the constitutional rules and principles, domestic legal order, European Union law and international law." The Romanian government has also issued an opinion that it does not support the adoption of the legislative proposal, and the Economic and Social Council (ESC) and the Legislative Council have also issued negative opinions.

The bill will be sent to the Senate, which is the decision-making body in this case.