HUNGARY: Hungary is to hold a referendum on giving dual citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living abroad, despite fears this will reignite tensions with neighbouring countries where most of them live.
A spokeswoman for President Ferenc Madl said yesterday a referendum was expected to be approved by October 8th and to be held before mid-December.
Some five million ethnic Hungarians live outside Hungary, mostly in neighbouring Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine - a legacy of the carve-up of the Austro-Hungarian empire after the first World War, when Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory.
Past attempts by Budapest to cater to ethnic Hungarians have triggered fears among its neighbours that Hungary was trying to retrieve some of the influence it lost after the first World War.
There have also been concerns about an influx of ethnic Hungarians into Hungary, straining its economy. Hungary joined the European Union this year.
The decision to hold a referendum came after the World Association of Hungarians collected more than 200,000 signatures in support of dual citizenship, triggering a legal requirement that the idea be debated in parliament.
Earlier this month parliament in turn decided to ask the president to approve a referendum.
Budapest angered some of its neighbours in 2001 by granting Hungarian identity cards to ethnic Hungarians living abroad.
The status of ethnic Hungarians is often exploited by politicians in neighbouring states usually in the run-up to elections, and there have been attacks recently on the Hungarian minority in the Serbian province of Vojvodina.
But analysts said the eastwards enlargement of the EU should reduce some of these tensions.
Slovakia joined the EU this year, meaning its citizens can now move and work freely in different EU member states, while Romania is also lining up to join.
Most countries today recognize some form of dual citizenship, said Pirkko Pitkanen of the Joensuu Centre for Ethnic Studies in Finland, in keeping with a trend towards people moving more freely across borders, which along with globalisation was challenging "traditional nation-state-focused assumptions". - (Reuters)