TNAG-2021-FCO40-2883-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Hungary-1990 — Page 67

2. Mr Tait raised the question of recent Hungarian appeals to the Prime Minister from the AFD, the HDF leader,

He

Dr Antall, and the "Appeal" from 11 opposition parties about Romanian violations of Hungarian rights in Tigru Mures. considered it would be wrong to reply to the letters during

the continuing election campaign in Hungary; we would answer them after 8 April. He said he had detected a greater

willingness on the part of the Romanians to address the

serious problems raised by the clashes in Tigru Mures and felt that conciliation through the CSCE might be a good way to deal with such problems. Such matters were not of course restricted solely to Romania but were a general European problem. Mr Kovacs, who was pessimistic, said that the Romanians were constantly suspicious of Hungarian aims.

They were particularly afraid of cultural autonomy for

Transylvania thinking that this would lead to political autonomy and so to annexation by Hungary. He said that we were witnessing a improvement of Hungarian/Romanian

relations on the surface but added that the hatred between

the Romanians and Hungarians went back centuries. Current

difficulties were compounded by the fact that the Romanian

government was weak and had neither the political or moral

strength and courage to stand up against chauvinists. Mr Tait pointed out that because of Ceausescu's legacy it

was going to take a lot longer for Romania to catch up with

the other reforming countries of Eastern Europe. It was important not to be too pessimistic about Romania. Under a regime like that of Ceaucescu you were either part of the

system or ostracised or possibly in prison. Mr Kovacs said that problems in Romania were compounded by the presence of many figures from the old system in the current government.

Nobody denied the right of cultural autonomy to the

Hungarian minority but there were considerable practical

problems, for instance, in restoring linguistic autonomy. He was particularly unnerved by some of the policies of the

Peasants Party, including the abolition of minority rights.

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