Southeast Europe

23/5). Regarding education each person has the right to learn his/her mother tongue, and
the right to be educated in this language […], but these rights shall be regulated by law”
(Romanian Constitution, Art 32/3). Hungarian is a language of instruction at all levels
under the Education Law 84/1995 and 151/1999, although there are restrictions within
certain subject areas (see section 6). The Law on Local Public Administration (see
section 5.2) also provides for the use of Hungarian (and other minority languages) when
dealing with local administrative officials. But there are no firm and concrete specified
conditions for this law to be applicable; its implementation is subject to interpretation.
There is an ongoing debate on whether language issues should be regulated in a law
regarding national minorities in general, or should there be the subject of a special
language law. There is no language law in Romania at present. However, the
Constitution has some provisions regarding language use in Justice (Art. 23/5 and 127/1
and 2), Education (see above) and Identity (Art 6/1 and 2) (Romanian Constitution).
4. RELIGION
4.1. Identifying a religious minority
4.2. Religious freedom enjoyed
4.3. Relations with the dominant religious community and the other communities
4.4. Ways in which the state protects or impedes minority religious activities
The Romanian Constitution provides freedom of religious beliefs (Art 29/1), but as was
mentioned by Varga Attila (DAHR data), there is no law concerning the existing
religions. There was a draft law that tried to assure the supremacy of the Orthodox
Church declaring it the national church. As Varga mentioned (DAHR data), there are
Orthodox bishoprics (dioceses) in the area where there are few Orthodox believers,
especially in localities with a Hungarian majority.
In Romania, the Hungarian population is not homogenous in its religious affiliations.
According to the 1992 census, members of the minority adhere to several faiths, two of
which contain exclusively Hungarian followers. The Reformed (Calvinist) Church has
801,577 followers of ethnic Hungarian origin (765,370 in the 1992 census), in the two
Transylvanian dioceses of Cluj and Oradea. The Unitarian Church has a significantly
smaller number of followers, 76,333 Hungarians (74,021 in the 1992 census), most of
whom are residents in the counties of Braşov, Cluj, Mureş, Harghita, and Covasna, the
last two of which are overwhelmingly Hungarian.
The Roman Catholic Church has a large number of Hungarian believers. The Church is
organised into six episcopal dioceses in Bucharest, Alba Iulia, Iaşi, Timişoara, Oradea,
and Satu Mare. Approximately 700,000 (669,420 according to the census) of its
1,144,820 adherents are members of the Hungarian minority, making them the largest
ethnic group in the church.
The majority of the 21,160 (12,842 in the census) followers of the Evangelical Synod-
Presbyterian Church are also members of the Hungarian minority. The Church has two
protopopiates with seats at Arad and Braşov and a total of 45 churches throughout its 38
parishes.
Other churches with a small number of Hungarian adherents are Baptist (12,845),
Adventist of the Seventh Day Faith (8,280), Pentecostal (4,339), and Christian after the
Gospel (2,393) (Census, 1992).
36