The Influence of Minority Rights Policy of the EU on the Political Transition of Central and Eastern European Countries: Individual or Group Minority Rights?
... Nations throughout the region feel they have been victimized by their minorities acting in collaboration with foreign enemies. This can be seen in the Czech Republic regarding the German minority; in Slovakia and Romania the Hungarian minority; in the Baltic the Russian minority; in Croatia the Serbian minority; in Bulgaria the Turkish minority. In all of these cases, minorities are seen as allies or collaborators with external powers that have historically oppressed the majority group. Evidence that states in the region still perceive their minorities as security threats can be found in their legislation, taking for example two non-communists states as Greece, an old EU member, and Turkey. Both countries are also old NATO members. For Greece, this is evident in its non-recognition of minority status on the basis of ethnic or linguistic criteria. The Greek Constitution, dating from 1975, does not provide any possibility of the existence of any minority status or the execution of collective minority rights. The term used is to “Greek citizen,” which is distinct from “nationality” and aims to define the responsibilities and duties of the individual. Greece has signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities but has not yet ratified it. The Greek civil code still prohibits the granting of Greek citizenship to persons with non-Greek linguistic roots. (Ivanov 2003) The Constitution of Turkey, which was adopted in 1982 and amended in 1995, also does not deal with the term “minority.” Its Article 66 states that every person having citizenship relations with the Turkish Republic is a Turk. Official data on the number of different ethnic groups are nonexistent. Article 28 declares the existence of “indivisible unity between state and nation,” opening the way for the prosecution of persons declaring the existence of national minorities. In 1994 the Turkish representative refused to sign the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, on the grounds that not all cultural, linguistic or religious distinctions lead to the emergence of national minorities. Turkey still has not signed the convention. (Ivanov 2003) III. Minority Rights Policies in Romania and Bulgaria Given the historical inheritance of hostile relations between the states and minority populations in the region, the true test of consolidation of the new democracies in Eastern European countries will be the integration of minorities into the political process. The major issue here is how the minorities are represented in the parliaments. Political parties can play an important role in intensifying ethnic tensions and pushing societies toward violence, and politicians often play with ethnicity to build constituencies for the attainment or maintenance of political power. This is especially the case when nationalism is on the rise. A lot of similarities exist between the two Eastern European States, Romania and Bulgaria. Each state has at least one substantial minority group defining itself differently from the majority population: Turks in Bulgaria, Hungarians in Romania. Generally, these groups are concentrated in some geographical parts of the respective nations. Finally, both cases have experienced similar problems associated with post-communist transitions and both countries have signed and ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. However, their relations with their minorities evolved in different ways. One observes differences in the policies these states have introduced to deal with their national minorities and in how such policies have come about. Bulgaria was able to establish good relations with its major ethnic Turkish minority by recognising their individual citizenship rights and political representation in the parliament. Romania is still confronted with ethnic clashes and with a political polarization along ethnicity lines. 1. Ethnic Policies and Political Parties in Romania The largest minority group (about two million or 10 percent) in Romania is Hungarians. An ethnic party, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR), which represents the interests of the minority group, has participated in the local and general elections and gained some seats in the parliament in the post-communist period. The DAHR or UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania) is built on a territorial basis. It finds its main support in Transylvania. (Kolar 1997, s. 443) The new constitution recognises collective rights of national minorities. Article 4 reads, "Romania is the common and indivisible homeland of all its citizens, without any discrimination on account of race, nationality, ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, opinion, political adherence, property or social origin." Furthermore, Article 6 provides more guaranties: "The State recognises and guarantees the right of persons belonging to national minorities, to the preservation, development and expression of their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity". Minority parties can be freely organised and operated as long as they observe national sovereignty, territorial integrity, the legal order and the principles of democracy. (Akgün 2001) According to Article 120 of the constitution wide autonomy rights are granted concerning the minorities: Article 120 (1) The public administration in territorial-administrative units shall be based on the principles of decentralization, local autonomy, and disconcentration of public services. (2) In the territorial-administrative units where citizens belonging to a national minority have a significant weight, provision shall be made for the oral and written use of that national minority's language in the relations with the local public administration authorities and the decentralized public services, under the terms stipulated by the organic law. (www.ccr.ro) a. Elections and Political Parties ROMANIA 2000 1996 1992 1990 Party % Seats % Seats % Seats % Seats PDSR 36,6 142 21,5 91 27,7 117 - - PUR 6 - - - - - - PSDR 7 - - - - 0,5 2 PRM 19,5 84 4,5 19 3,9 16 - - PD 7,0 31 12,9 53 10,2 43 66,3 263 PNL 6,9 30 - - 2,6 - 6,4 29 RMDSZ 6,8 27 6,6 25 7,5 27 7,2 29 CDR 5,0 - 30,2 122 20,0 82 - - PUNR 1,4 - 4,4 18 7,7 30 2,1 9 PSM 0,8 - 2,2 - 3,0 13 - - PNTCD - - - - - - 2,6 12 Minorities 2,7 18 2,1 15 1,4 13 0,4 9 Others 13,3 - 15,6 - 18,6 - 14,6 43 Total - 345 - 343 - 341 - 396 PDSR: Party of Social Democracy; PUR: Humanist Party of Romania; PSDR: Social Democratic Party of Romania; PRM: Party of Great Romania; PD: Democratic Party (1996 incl. PSDR); PNL: National Liberal Party; RMDSZ: Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania; CDR: Democratic Convention of Romania; PUNR: Party of Romanian National Unity; PSM: Socialist Party of Labour; PNTCD: National Peasants' Party-Christian Democrats. Sources: Camera Deputatilor; W. Ismayr, Die politischen Systeme Osteuropas; Election Database Eastern Europe; Studies on Parties and Elections; own calculations. Parties and Elections in Europe / Parteien und Wahlen in Europa © Wolfram Nordsieck, 1997-2002 - http://www.parties-and-elections.de - webmaster@parties-and-elections.de The PDSR -Romanian Party for Social Democracy (Partidul Democratiei Sociale din Romania) is nowadays the strongest Party in Romania with 141 Seats in the Parliament. The PDSR has become one of the leading parties in Romanian politics in that it is the de facto successor to the communist party, and headed the government for seven years. The PDSR defines itself as social-democratic, but the party retains many features typical of both a pre-1989 communist party and a popular front movement. The party consists of various wings, among which the more nationalistic and conservative hard-liners of Ion Iliescu, and the moderate and reform minded strain around Adrian Nastase. Openly hostile relations between the PDSR and the opposition parties have been toned down over the last few years. Party leader is Ion Iliescu. (http://www.europeanforum.bot-consult.se/cup/romania) The PUNR - Party of Romanian National Unity (Partidul Unitatii Nationale Romane) is a nationalistic party, although in day-to-day practice it displays slightly more moderate tendencies. In western countries the party’s reputation is mainly negative, since radical nationalists based round the periodical "Vatra Romaneasca" (Romanian Cradle) are also in the PUNR. Founder and former party leader Gheorghe Funar is mayor of Cluj. (www.TheFreeDictionary.com) The PRM - Greater Romania Party (Partidul Romania Mare) is an ultra-nationalistic, anti-Hungarian party, combining fascist and communist principles. Its orientation towards (re) unification with Moldova is one of PRM's main electoral selling points. In its programme for the elections in 1996, the PRM projected two years of authoritarian rule in Romania. The PRM’s party leader ran for president in 2000 and came in second behind Ion Iliescu (PDSR). Party leader Vadim Tudor is very popular among the miners from the Jiu valley. During the latest strikes the miners shouted his name and called him the saviour of Romania. Policies of the party include annexing all Romanian territories under 'foreign administration' - thus including Moldova, and parts of Ukraine, and Bulgaria. It is seen as anti-Semitic and anti-Hungarian. It is the second-largest party in the Romanian parliament after the 2000 elections and polled around 20% of the vote. In the first round of the Romanian presidential elections on November 26 2000 Tudor finished second with 28% of the vote. (Four years earlier, he had com in fifth.) Dan Corneliu Hudici, a former reporter at România Mare, claimes there was a secret "blacklist" of dozens of politicians (including then-president Emil Constantinescu), journalists, and businessmen to be arrested if Tudor's party came to power. (www.TheFreeDictionary.com) The UDMR - Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (Uniunea Democrata a Maghiarilor din Romania/Romaniai Magyar Demokrata Szovetseg) mainly exists to protect the interests of Hungarian-Romanians and the survival of Hungarian culture in Romania. Most of the party members agree on the issue of autonomy for Hungarians living in Romania, considered as an unconstitutional position by Romanian Supreme Court. In the 2000 elections the UDMR won 6.8 percent of the votes cast, which more or less corresponds to the percentage of Hungarians living in Romania. Party-chair holds Bela Marko. (www.TheFreeDictionary.com) b. Political Reality Since 1989 an alarming radicalisation of minority politics has occurred in Romania focussing on Transylvania. It has been encouraged by extremists from both sides who provoked each other, eventually culminating in a tense situation. Romanian extremists blame Hungarians for endangering the Romanian nation, while the Hungarians in the UDMR persist in their wish to have autonomy and nothing less. The nationalist forces around the PUNR and PRM demand that granted rights should be withdrawn from the Hungarian minority. They accuse the Hungarian minority of threatening the existence of the state and, by doing this, are backed by the Romanian press and other leading elites. An official communiqué of PUNR labels the Hungarian UDMR as “Nazi-type organization” and “nest of potential killers”. In January 1995, PUNR demanded that a state of emergency be declared in cities with a significant Hungarian population. (Fürst 2003) The Leader of the Party of Romanian National Unity (PUNR), Gheorghe Funar, asked in 1990 for the outlawing of the UDMR, as a terrorist organisation. As a mayor in Cluj, he banned all bilingual signs, all Hungarian posters, forbade the spreading of the Hungarian satellite Duna TV and stipulated that all communiqués, announcements, and advertisements could appear only in Romanian (using the Article 13). (Daskalovski 2002) The UDMR demands decentralisation of the Romanian State and wish to obtain the immediate recognition of an autonomous Magyar entity that could follow the same path as Hungary, no matter what happens in the rest of Romania. In October 1992, the UDMR published a Declaration: it stopped speaking anymore on behalf of a Magyar “minority” but on behalf of a Magyar “co-nation”. It demanded a status of “autonomous community”, based on a Hungarian concept of “autonomous administration,” or “autonomous government.” In August 1993, the UDMR sent a Memorandum to the Council of Europe, asking that the final examination of the Romanian candidacy should be postponed until there could be better protection of the Magyar minority. The initiative raised a general outcry in Romania. All big parties condemned it as an “anti-Romanian” act. (Roger 2002, p. 35) During a visit to Mures in the Transylvania region on 5 June 1999, the Romanian President Emil Constantinescu responded to a document circulating among intellectuals in Transylvania which promoted a federal structure for Romania. The document states that, since Transylvania is more advanced economically than the rest of Romania, it could be integrated more rapidly into the European Union. The document argued for the decentralization of Transylvania and the Banat region, with the establishment of a regional government and parliament. According to the proposal, Bucharest would then only deal with foreign policy and defence issues related to the Transylvania and Banat regions. In his reaction to the document, Constantinescu said he would never accept ‘ideas leading to the loss of sovereignty, unity, or the indivisibility of Romanian territory.’ He stressed that his administration could not accept ‘any form of federal governing system or regional-type legislative administration, and we would not accept separatist ideas running counter to the interests of the Romanian nation.’(Serafim 2003) c. Conclusion Although the Romanian government signed the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, collective rights of national minorities are granted, and ethnic political parties participate actively in the Romanian parliament the situation in Romania is worsening. These ethnicity policies resulted in violent clashes, the rise of strong ultra-nationalistic parties and a deep cleavage of the Romanian society along ethno-political lines. The fear that Romania may be forced to grant some sort of territorial autonomy to Hungarians does not allow a constructive dialog between the state and the minority. The fear of separatist tendencies among the Hungarian population hinders further peace-making steps that otherwise might be taken by the Romanian governments. 2. Ethnic Policies and Political Parties in Bulgaria The main ethnic minority groups in Bulgaria are the Bulgarian Turks and Roma. The most significant religious minority are the Mohammedans who include the Bulgarian ethnic Turks, part of the Bulgarian Roma and some 200,000 Bulgarians (the so-called Pomaks). According to the December 1992 Bulgarian census, there are 822,000 ethnic Turks, constituting 9.7 percent of the population. The main road chosen by Bulgarian law for the protection of the rights of the representatives of minority groups in Bulgaria is that which guarantees protection of their individual human rights. It has been established in the sphere of protection of minority rights under international law and is applied by most states. In accordance with the new Bulgarian Constitution of 1991, minorities in Bulgaria are directly protected by the international instruments concerning them. This establishes the precedence of international law over Bulgarian national law and is contained in Article 5, paragraph 4 of the Constitution – “Any international instruments which have been ratified by the constitutionally established procedure, promulgated and having come into force with respect to the Republic of Bulgaria shall be considered part of the domestic legislation of the country. They shall supersede any domestic legislation stipulating otherwise“. (Konstantinov 1995, pp.31 ff) The Bulgarian constitution follows the doctrine of the so-called »one nation-state«, recognized by all Bulgarian parties, including the representatives of the Bulgarian Turks. The Bulgarian Constitution excludes granting collective political rights to the different religious and ethnic groups. Persons belonging to these groups can participate in political life through Bulgarian parties. Article 11, paragraph 4 of the Constitution prohibits "political parties on an ethnic, racial or religious basis" – “There shall be no political parties on ethnic, racial or religious lines, nor parties which seek the violent seizure of state power”. The rights of the minority representatives are protected through the provisions guaranteeing protection of their individual human rights. The equality before the law and the ban on discrimination are regulated in Article 6 of the Constitution which holds that "All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights" (paragraph 1) and "All citizens are equal before the law. No restrictions of their rights or privileges are permitted on the grounds of race, nationality, ethnic belonging, sex, origin, religion, education, convictions, political affiliation, personal or social position, or property status" (paragraph 2). The rights of persons belonging to different linguistic, religious and ethnic groups are guaranteed in Article 44, paragraph 2 of the Constitution. It prohibits organisations whose activities are directed at inciting racial, national, ethnic or religious hostility, or violate the rights and freedoms of citizens. a. Elections and Political Parties BULGARIA - Percentage of Votes in Elections to the Narodno Sobranie 10 June 1990 13 October 1991 18 December 1994 19 April 1997 19 June 2001 Valid Votes 87.8 81.6 74.3 61.5 66.4 Invalid Votes 3.0 1.9 0.9 1.1 0.6 Total Votes 90.8 83.5 75.2 62.6 67.0 1 Coalition for Bulgaria 47.2 33.1 43.5 22.5 17.1 2 Union of Democratic Forces 36.2 34.4 24.2 53.2 18.2 3 Bulgarian Agrarian National Union 8.0 3.9 6.5 - - 4 Movement for Human Rights & Freedoms 6.0 7.5 5.4 - 7.5 5 Fatherland Party of Labour 0.6 0.3 - - 0.0 6 Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (Nikola Petkov) - 3.4 - - - 7 Union of Democratic Forces (Centre) - 3.2 - - - 8 Union of Democratic Forces (Liberal) - 2.8 - - - 9 Kingdom of Bulgaria Confederation - 1.8 1.4 - - 10 Bulgarian Business Bloc - 1.3 4.7 5.0 0.0 11 Bulgarian National Radical Party 0.1 1.1 0.5 0.2 0.1 12 Democratic Alternative for the Republic - - 1.9 - - 13 Bulgarian Communist Party - 0.7 1.5 1.2 - 14 New Choice Alliance - - 1.5 - - 15 Patriotic Union - - 1.4 - - 16 Alliance for National Salvation - - - 7.7 - 17 Euroleft - - - 5.6 1.0 18 Union for the King - - - 1.1 - 19 National Movement Simeon the Second - - - - 42.7 20 "Simeon II" Coalition - - - - 3.4 21 National Union for Tzar Simeon II - - - - 1.7 Others 1.9 6.4 7.4 3.5 8.3 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 http://www.online.bg/main/politics.htm The main party in the Coalition for Bulgaria is the BSP (Balgarska Socialisticheska Partiya) - Bulgarian Socialist Party. The Bulgarian Socialist Party is the successor to the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). In April 1990, following an inner-party referendum the party was renamed into Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and adopted the values of the Socialist International in its official documents. The 1994 Party Programme builds on the value triad of freedom, justice and solidarity adopted by the social democratic parties and the Socialist International. The BSP accession as full member in the biggest international political family - the Socialist International was completed on October 26th, 2003. (www.bsp.bg) The Union of Democratic Forces - SDS (Saiuz na demokratichnite sili) is a Bulgarian right-of-centre political party founded in December 1989 . The UDF is a member of the European People's Party which is a Christian democrat-conservative political party at European level. (www.TheFreeDictionary.com) The Movement of Rights and Freedoms - DPS (Dvizhenie za Prava i Svobodi) is a centrist political party in Bulgaria , based on the Turkish minority. The DPS is member of the Liberal International and considers itself a liberal party which believes in the growth of a free society based on personal liberty, personal responsibility and social justice. (www.TheFreeDictionary.com) The DPS was created in 1990 as an organisation which declared its intention to protect the rights and interests of Bulgarian citizens of Turkish origin. It declared that it would be defending the interests and rights o...