National Public Security Strategy: autonomy claims are a public security threat in Romania

Regional autonomy claims and manifestations are permanently threatening the climate and the wellbeing of the citizens in Romania, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, published in the National Public Security Strategy for 2015-2020.

The document, published on the site of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was released to public hearing, and it claims that ”the dynamic of the criminal phenomena remains a permanent threat to the climate of safety and the wellbeing of the citizens, through possible threats like: manifestations of racism, xenophobia, extremism and other forms of intolerance, that aim to obtain the autonomy of certain regions based on ethnic criteria”.

The leaders of the Hungarian community have received this document with shock and immediately condemned it. Hunor Kelemen, the president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR) and the DAHR parliamentary group expressed their deep concern about the strategy, calling it “un-democratic and abusive”, releasing a statement saying that, the named element of the strategy is “offensive and it stigmatizes the Hungarian community.” According to DAHR the strategy is unfair and unacceptable, given that the Hungarian community has been promoting the autonomy of Szeklerland in a peaceful and democratic manner. “Romania cannot consider a source of danger, a threat the biggest national community living in the country”, declared the DAHR parliamentarians.