Minority rights in Romania: One step forward, two steps back?

After initially voting in favour of a proposed amendment by the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ/UDMR), which was meant to extend the linguistic rights of minorities in the fields of healthcare and social assistance, three parties, namely the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) and the People’s Movement Party (PMP), objected to the proposed amendment at the Constitutional Court of Romania.

This sudden change of opinion on the part of the three parties is both absurd and offensive, and can only be interpreted as an assault against the Hungarian community and against human rights in general.

The amendment in question states that in localities where a minority population exceeds 20%, or the alternative gap of 5000 people, members of the minority must be guaranteed the right to be attended within the healthcare system and social services by a person who speaks their mother tongue. Such an extension of the linguistic rights of minorities would be an important step forward, since there have been several cases in recent years of patients being shamed and ill-treated within the healthcare system for not speaking Romanian properly.