The june 2012 opinion of the venice commission of the council of europe on the act on the rights of nationalities of Hungary. Presentation and assessment

• Author: Bogdan Aurescu
• Position: Lecturer, Ph.D., Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest. Substitute member of the Venice Commission on behalf of Romania
• Pages: 166-179

166 Lex ET Scientia. Juridical Series

LESIJ NO. XIX, VOL. 2/2012

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THE JUNE 2012 OPINION OF THE VENICE COMMISSION

OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE ON THE ACT ON THE RIGHTS

OF NATIONALITIES OF HUNGARY.

PRESENTATION AND ASSESSMENT

Bogdan AURESCU∗

Abstract

The paper undertakes an analysis of the June 2012 Opinion of the European Commission for

Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe on the Hungarian Act

on the Rights of Nationalities of Hungary, adopted in December 2011. The paper approaches this

task having as a reference point the European standards on minority protection, but also the

concrete needs of the Romanian minority of Hungary in preserving and developing its cultural

identity, effort which might be directly affected by the Act. The paper shows that the Opinion of the

Venice Commission acknowledges not only the positive aspects set forth by the Act, but also certain

important shortcomings that have to be redressed by further amending the Act. Among these, inter

alia, one may identify the following: the fact that, being a “cardinal” law, it is quite difficult to

amend it; the fact that it sometimes includes an excessively detailed regulation; that it changes the

terminology from “national minority” to “nationality”, with important consequences on the manner

of projecting the Hungarian interests in connection with the Hungarian minorities abroad (as well as

the fact that the Act consecrates the controversial concept of “collective rights”); it includes a

narrow definition of the “nationality”, thus excluding the new minorities and creating some

difficulties for the Roma, who are not (by tradition) strictly linked to territory; it does not include

sufficient guarantees as to the accuracy of ethnic data collection, especially by censuses; it does not

provide for concrete measures to ensure the verification of the mother tongue knowledge by minority

electors and candidates for self-governments, thus living place for the perpetuation of the

phenomenon of the so-called “ethno-business”; the regulation of education for minorities has a

degree of uncertainty with regard to the stability and continuity of minority education and might

have a negative impact on the parents’ choice as to their children education; it does not address in

an appropriate manner the problem of financing of the media for national minorities, and so on.

Keywords: Venice Commission, kin-minority, promotion and protection of rights of persons

belonging to national minorities, “collective” rights, individual rights, self-government, ethno-

business

Introduction

The European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the “Venice

Commission”, adopted, at its 91st plenary session (15-16 June 2012, Venice), its Opinion on the Act

on the Rights of Nationalities of Hungary (hereafter referred to as “the Opinion”).1 The Opinion of

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∗ Lecturer, Ph.D., Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest. Substitute member of the Venice Commission on

behalf of Romania (e-mail: bogdan.aurescu@gmail.com).

1 Opinion on the Act on the Rights of Nationalities of Hungary, adopted by the Venice Commission at its 91st

Plenary Session (Venice, 15-16 June 2012), on the basis of comments by Mr Sergio BARTOLE (Substitute Member,

Italy), Mr Latif HUSEYNOV (Member, Azerbaijan), Mr Jan VELAERS (Member, Belgium), Opinion no. 671/2012,

CDL-AD(2012)011, the official site of the Venice Commission, accessed July 4, 2012, http://www.venice.coe.int/

docs/2012/CDL-AD(2012)011-e.pdf.