[PINR] 13 December 2004: Hungary's Referendum on Dual Citizenship: A Smal

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Power and Interest News Report (PINR)
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13 December 2004
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Hungary's Referendum on Dual Citizenship: A Small Victory for Europeanism
Drafted By: Dr. Michael A. Weinstein
http://www.pinr.com

As the European Union consolidates its expansion into Eastern Europe, its Western European core is forced to confront the consequences of its past as a competitive nation-state system.
The modern European state system was grafted onto Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I. Crafted from the dual and conflicting motives of maximizing national self-determination and punishing the vanquished, the new states were plagued by the presence of ethnic minorities with irredentist and often revanchist aims. Often systematically disadvantaged by the majorities in the new states, the minorities had all the more reason to hold themselves hostile and apart.
Grievances persisted and frequently deepened during the four decades of Communist rule after World War II. With the fall of the Soviet bloc, Eastern European states continued to face the issues posed by aggrieved minorities, but now in an environment in which the minorities could be more open, forthright and assertive in pursuing aspirations for separation, union with their ethnic homelands or autonomy. Except in the former Yugoslavia, the minorities question has not been answered by military force. That eventuality has been prevented elsewhere by the overriding vital interest of all the Eastern European states in integrating into the E.U., which requires that members do not systematically discriminate against or exploit minorities. Nonetheless, the legacy of the past still poses some obstacles to the creation of a post-industrial and harmonious multi-national Europe united by market democracy and a Western lifestyle.
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The Referendum: Nationalism Versus Europeanism

The referendum was not initiated within the Hungarian political system, but by the World Federation of Hungarians, an N.G.O. dedicated to the protection of the Hungarian diaspora and the nation-above-borders idea. The Federation was able to obtain the signatures of the 200,000 voters in Hungary necessary for putting its proposal on the ballot. The proposal required the Hungarian parliament to pass a law "offering preferential naturalization -- on request -- that grants Hungarian citizenship to persons who claim Hungarian ethnicity, do not reside in Hungary, are not Hungarian citizens, and certify Hungarian ethnicity."
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International Complications

The prospect of dual citizenship for ethnic Hungarians, especially when Orban linked the issue to greater autonomy for them in neighboring states, was greeted with disapproval by those states. Romania, in particular, contains the Transylvania region, which Hungarians regard as a historical seat of their nation, and has the largest Hungarian minority and one that is well organized and anxious for expanded autonomy. The possible use of dual citizenship as a wedge for Budapest to influence minority policies in neighboring states is perceived by those states as a threat to their sovereignty.
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Conclusion

The defeat of the Hungarian referendum on dual citizenship was a temporary victory for the E.U., but also a reminder that unresolved problems from the past can surface having the potential of disturbing European integration. The success of the E.U. design to westernize Eastern Europe depends more than anything else on robust economic growth and broad distribution of its benefits in the region. If rising expectations are not met, nationalist sentiments that can be exploited politically remain close to the surface.
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complete report available at http://www.pinr.com
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Report Drafted By:
Dr. Michael A. Weinstein
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