European Parliament, 2 April 1990

The European Parliament,

A. seriously alarmed at the tragic bloodshed in Tirgu Mures, Transylvania, which has claimed a heavy toll of dead and injured among the ethnic Hungarian population,

B. whereas the chief cause of these inter-ethnic clashes is the Hungarian minority's demand to enjoy protection of its cultural identity and the right to use its own language, notwithstanding the continuing bans and restrictions which have been inherited from the former regime,

C. having regard to the Helsinki accords, which were signed by Romania and are accepted with no qualification whatsoever by the present Romanian Governmant,

D. having regard to the failure of central government to take effective steps to prevent the organized violence against the Hungarian minority and hence to ensure that the perpetrators of this appalling bloodshed are brought to justice,

E. concerned at the extreme tension that now exists between the ethnic Hungarian and Romanian populations and its possible adverse effects on the democratic reconstruction of the country and the first stages of preparations for the election,

1. expresses the full measure of its solidarity with the victims of the violence which has occurred in Transylvania and, at the same time, voices the sternest condemntion of all forms of intolerance to ethnic minorities;

2. Calls on the Commission and Council to make representations to the Romanian Government with a view to persuading it to use all possible dispatch population and the ethnic minorities, in particular the ethnic Hungarian minority;

3. Hopes that the Commission and Council will make representations to the Romanian Government with a view to persuading it to confirm and uphold the right of all ethnic minorities living on Romanian soil to have their own identity, in particular as far as the ethnic Hungarian minority is concerned, since they have been persecuted so grievously and so violently;

4. Calls on the Romanian Government to provide the guarantees required to ensure full compliance at election time with the procedures for free circulation of campaign publicity and for democratic participation in the poll;

5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Romanian Government.