An important component in the renewal of the Socialist Party is reconsidering its nation policy, deputy head of the party Andras Balogh told a press conference on Thursday, adding that his party approved of ensuring easy citizenship access for ethnic Hungarians, but would not consider granting voting rights “an integral part” of the process.
Balog said that the government’s efforts to seek closer ties with Hungarians in neighbouring countries and re-unite the nation should also involve reducing differences within the country’s borders.
The Socialist Party finds it unacceptable that the government should differentiate between ethnic Hungarian organisations and grant more benefits to one than to others, said Balogh.
As for voting rights, Balogh said that those rights should be granted with respect to residence and participation in bearing the pubic burden. He added that rolling out electoral rights to ethnic Hungarian communities would generate political tension, which could harm ethnic kin.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen addressed a youth camp for Hungarians in Tusnadfurdo, Romania, and said that the purpose of Hungary’s dual citizenship law, adopted last year, was to help ethnic Hungarians fight the threat of assimilation.
Full Article: Socialists approve of dual citizenship, object to voting rights | Politics.hu.
