MEP Macovei: Minorities' rights are respected in Romania; rights of Romanians in Covasna, Harghita violated

Romanian MEP Monica Macovei (of the Democratic Liberal Party, PDL) said on Thursday that the minorities' rights, of the Hungarian minority included, are respected in Romania, but an unknown problem is the fact that the Romanians' rights are not respected in Covasna and Harghita counties (central Romania).

"The minorities' rights are fully respected in Romania and it's the same when it comes to the rights of the Hungarian minority. ... I heard many MEP colleagues of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania complaining about their rights not being respected. ... So, they have rights," Monica Macovei said when asked in an interview with Adevarul Live about her position on the statements of Szekler leaders in Romania calling for the autonomy of the Szekler area; she was also asked if the Hungarian minority benefits from sufficient rights on behalf of the Romanian state.

On the other hand, Macovei said she is extremely bothered about the fact that the rights of the Romanians living in the Covasna and Harghita counties are violated.

"I've been there. There are Romanians not able to get a job because of their citizenship. This is a problem, am I right? We don't talk about this issue, but I am highly aware of this situation," said Monica Macovei.

On the other hand, the PDL MEP stressed that supporting the independence of an area is connected to the freedom of expression.

"One has to take action properly, like when supporting an idea, not blatantly and making gestures offending the others. This is freedom of expression. One can say: I want this. But one should not make use of blatant gestures or insults, like we've seen before," Macovei said.AGERPRES