European Integration and Ethnic Mobilization in Newly Admitted Countries: The Case of the Hungarian Minority in Romania

Abstract

The territorial autonomy of Transylvania has been a recurrent issue in postcommunist Romanian politics. Since the 1990s, nationalist rhetoric was heard constantly, and both minority and majority elites played the “ethnic card” for electoral gains. However, what might be surprising for some observers is the persistence and the relevance of the “autonomist” message in the new context of Romania’s European Union (EU) membership. Furthermore, the way this message has been framed by the Hungarian political elites—by using European themes such as minority rights, regionalization, Europe of the Regions—and the diversification of arenas in which this message has been delivered, particularly after 1996 (e.g., local/regional, national, and EU), raises an important question: is there a link between European integration and the radicalization of ethnic discourse? Does European integration affect ethnic mobilization in newly admitted countries and if so, how? This chapter aims to address these questions by examining the case of the Hungarian minority in Romania. It explores the behavior and the discursive practices of its political organizations—the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and the National Council of Ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania (CNMT)3—in the period from 1990 to 2008. I analyze Hungarian discourses and rhetorical practices in speeches and interviews with major Hungarian leaders in Romania, their political platforms, and news coverage.4KeywordsEuropean UnionNational MinorityPolitical Opportunity StructureEuropean Union AccessionCentral Eastern Europe CountryThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.