Semjen: Government working to ‘heal Trianon wound’ in ethnic Hungarian communities

Addressing a conference dedicated to the subject of national cohesion, held in Tihany, at Lake Balaton, Semjen said that “the government has a responsibility for the fate of Hungarians across the borders”, which had motivated such moves as granting preferential Hungarian citizenship to ethnic kin and launching programmes to promote ethnic Hungarian interests.

“To answer the question of what we have achieved during the one hundred years after Trianon, we need to assess where we were 50 or 70 years after the [1920] treaty,” Semjen said.

“By now, the Hungarian government has put nation policy in the focus, and for the sole reason of Trianon. The government made it clear in the constitution that Hungary has a responsibility for ethnic kin,” Semjen said.

Concerning the practical implementation of the government’s policy for Hungarians beyond the border, Semjen highlighted the cultural Korosi Csoma and Petofi programmes directed at Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin and in the diaspora, as well the Without Borders programme organising holidays for Hungarian schoolchildren in Hungarian communities abroad. The Mikes Kelemen and Julianus programmes were designed to save the jeopardised printed heritage and present the cultural values of diaspora Hungarians, he said.

Semjen also highlighted the government’s economic development porgramme launched in 2016 to promote ethnic Hungarian businesses.

The Hungarian government has provided financing to renovate kindergartens and build new ones for ethnic children, as well as to renew a number of churches and historic monuments in Hungarian communities, he said.

The Fidesz government, in its very first year in 2010, set up the Hungarian Permanent Conference, and the Hungarian Diaspora Council the next year to provide forums for ethnic Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin and in the world, Semjen said.