György Andó, Antal György Diószegi, Mrs György Gmoser, Sándor Kaszás, Trajan Kreszta, Gusztáv Nagy, Gyula Rezműves, Johann Schuth, Konrád Sutarski, Mrs István Szili and Péter Szőke received the decoration in recognition of their work in various fields for ethnic Romanians, Roma, Bulgarians, Slovaks, Germans and Poles in Hungary.

The Roszica Bulgarian Folk Ensemble and the Tököl South Slavic Folk Ensemble were also decorated. Speaking at the ceremony, Balog said that having a network of institutions strengthen the 13 minority communities in Hungary is in the whole country’s interest.

The number of such institutions has grown nearly threefold since 2010, he noted. The minorities’ rich culture, historic roots and their traditions are an integral part of the country’s culture, he said.

Hungary wants to set an example to countries where ethnic minorities face a less stable and nurturing environment, Balog said, citing Ukraine as an example, where he said public education in Hungarian was in jeopardy. Miklós Soltész, deputy state secretary for religious, ethnic and social relations, said that the number of ethnic minority institutions grew from 12 to 82 in the past four years.

The language premium for teachers in schools for ethnic minorities has been recently raised to 15 percent from 10 percent, Soltész noted.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Balogh Zoltán