Official figures from late October 2013 show that the number of such applications has far exceeded half a million. There are between 15 000 and 20 000 applicants per month. A little more than 10 percent is over the age of 60 but only 6 percent of the applicants from Sub-Carpathia are over 60.

As for Sub-Carpathia, over half of all the ethnic Hungarians living there have already applied for Hungarian citizenship. About one third of the ethnic Hungarians have applied from Vojvodina. In the case of Transylvania, one quarter has applied. The low percentage of the elderly means that various motivations on top of emotional ones motivate the applicants. “Even if national fervor is as noble as it can be, interests also play a role,” says to this weekly Attila Z. Papp, director of MTA TK KI.

Entitlement to employment or study can be such an interest. Studies of Tamás Kiss, a researcher on minority affairs from Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár) have shown that many of the applicants aspire to work or study in Western Europe or in North America. (Note that Romania has not been accepted to the Schengen Zone yet.)

A respondent of the survey of the MTA TK KI said that originally he hadn’t thought of applying for Hungarian citizenship or passport but “now that some buddies have resettled in London and they make much more money than I do without being better educated, well, then you certainly change your mind.”

Statistics of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice show that 45 percent of the applications for citizenship were submitted in Hungary. A considerable part of the applicants are from neighboring countries who have resettled in Hungary in recent years. Ministry data show that some 60 000 of the new citizens already lived in Hungary and 40 000 of them even have an address in Hungary.

The political intentions of Fidesz were only discovered after the law on Hungarian citizenship has been adopted, that is when Hungarians living beyond Hungary’s borders were given the right to vote at the Hungarian parliamentary elections. No one can exactly tell to what extent was that a motivation among the applicants.

Many of the applicants are thought to have submitted their application on Hungarian territory for fear of their new citizenship being exposed to their neighbors or the authorities at home. Although Ukraine prohibits dual citizenship, more than half of the ethnic Hungarians there have applied – true, they tended not to do so at the Hungarian consulate in Berehove (Beregszász) or Uzshorod (Ungvár). Only 15 000 of the over 80 000 Ukrainian applicants did so in Ukraine.

The ethnic Hungarians of Slovakia didn’t take the trouble of travelling to Hungary for the purpose. As Slovakia is in the Schengen Zone, owning a Hungarian passport is not such a privilege for them. Emotional bonds and national consciousness must have been stronger motivations among their ranks. Only 1700 Slovak citizens have applied and that was probably also because in Slovakia anyone assuming another citizenship loses the Slovak one. Slovak statistics say that 36 persons have lost their Slovak citizenship due to their assuming Hungarian citizenship. It means that until now the Hungarian authorities have managed to keep the data of applicants from Slovakia secret.

The Hungarian public does not mind the changes in the legal regulation of citizenship as long as they remain in the realm of symbolic gestures but it is suspicious of changes that have financial or political implications. This was found by a survey that covered majority opinions in Hungary and in Romania.

In Romania the public is more tolerant towards ethnic Romanians who return to Romania even if tangible benefits are involved.

For some, entering the community of Hungarian citizens means higher self-esteem – studies by Attila Z. Papp show. A respondent has gone so far as telling that he definitely does not want his being a Hungarian be shown in a bad light. “If I happen to break traffic rules in Hungary and a policeman asks for my papers, I show my Romanian passport. The officer should punish a Romanian.”

Source: HVG

Translated by Budapest Telegraph

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