Hungarian minority party and Romanian PM agree on Hungarian language section at local university

The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu agreed on a Government decision to set up a Hungarian language section at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Targu Mures. The decision should be approved by the Government on Tuesday (March 13) and on public debate for ten days. Meanwhile, UDMR Members of the Parliament do not take part in the meetings of the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate, pending on the decision for their request for a mother tongue teaching section for the Hungarian minority. UDMR is part of the ruling coalition in Romania, led by the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL). The head of PDL Emil Boc said the party would never accept a faculty with teaching exclusively in Hungarian, as UDMR wishes. Hungarians in Romania, which are more numerous in the Central area of the country, already have classes in their mother tongue, as well as bilingual street signage in the counties where Hungarians make the majority of inhabitants. Hungarians make 5.6 percent of the country's population – or about 1.2 million people, according to the 2011 census preliminary data. Hungarians make the majority in the counties of Harghita, - 84.8 percent, Covasna – 73.6 percent, while they are also numerous in the counties of Mures, Satu Mares, Bihor and Salaj – between 23 and 37 percent. editor@romania-insider.com