Social Democratic Party Democratic
Agreement on co-operation between the Social
Democratic Party and the Democratic
Considering the positive results of
the co-operation between the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic
Alliance of Hungarians in Romania in 2001, based on the
agreement signed between the two political parties:
Ø
Taking into account the beneficial effects
of the SDP-DAHR co-operation in 2001 on the
achievement of major objectives of the whole Romanian society;
Ø
Expressing the opinion that maintaining political stability in our
country bears a fundamental importance on accelerating the European and
Euro-Atlantic accession process;
Ø
Aware of the necessity to fulfil adhesion criteria at parliamentary and executive
levels, both in the perspective of
receiving Romania in the NATO and accelerating negotiations with the
European Union;
Ø
Considering the necessity to urge political and institutional
reforms, continue the process of decentralisation,
accelerate privatisation and develop infrastructure
in all areas of the country;
Ø
Aware of the existence, in
Romania, of real conditions to finish and close the ample process of solutioning property issues, deliver ownership titles
for land and forestry, restitution, in nature or by compensation, of nationalised real estates;
Ø
Taking into account the common
will of the parties to secure social
stability by efficient protection and social solidarity measures;
Ø
Estimating that the SDP-DAHR co-operation resulted in improved
national majority-minority relations in
Ø
Starting from the fact that minorities
represent a cultural and spiritual asset for the entire country, considering
that respecting and broadening minority rights does not restrict or infringe
upon the rights of the Romanian majority, but secure equal opportunities to all
citizens;
Ø
Expressing the intention that
their co-operation would contribute to an equitable
and harmonious cohabitation of the various ethnicity of our country, as
well as political isolation of extremist forces;
Ø
Considering the intention of the signatory parties to preserve, express and develop the national identity
of all national minorities in Romania, including the Hungarian community,
according to Romania’s Constitution, the European Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the
European Charter for Local Autonomy;
Ø
Aware of the positive consequences on international level of the
co-operation between the signatory parties, playing a significant role in eliminating visa obligations for Romanian
citizens travelling in the Schengen
area, as well as in accelerating Romania’s accession process in NATO.
The Social Democratic Party and the
Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania express their firm intention to
continue and develop their co-operation in 2002,
for the purpose of accelerating economic reforms, stop poverty, fight
corruption and criminality, respect human rights, increase efforts for NATO and
EU accessions.
Therefore the Social Democratic Party and the
Democratic
I.
CONCERNING POLITICAL
RELATIONS BETWEEN SDP AND DAHR
1. SDP and DAHR, two political parties responsible for the country’s
future, shall co-operate on a permanent
basis on central leadership level, mutually informing each other on priority
issues.
2.
The Signatories agree to their representatives participating, as invited guests, at national events of the two
political parties.
3.
SDP and DAHR conclude to
operatively inform each other concerning the analysis
and decisions adopted by central executive bodies of the two political parties.
4.
The signatory parties shall organise on mutual
accord exchanges, debates and symposiums
on various subjects of the political, economical and social activities.
5.
SDP and DAHR commit to
support, in their international relations, the fundamental interests of
6.
The signatory parties conclude to support, according to international
regulations, the interests of the
Romanians from abroad, especially of the Romanian community in
7.
SDP and DAHR
commit to grant special attention to the
problems of the Romanian minority in the counties and localities where the
ethnic Hungarians are in majority, taking action in favour
of equal opportunities for all Romanian citizens.
8.
The two political
parties shall continue to grant priority to the protection of national
minorities, institutional and legislative development of their
issues.
Ø
The conditions to secure
the right to freely express the preservation and development of ethnic identity
shall continue to broaden for all Romanian citizens belonging to national
minorities, in order to manifest themselves in areas of cultural, religious,
educational, and public life.
Ø
Special attention shall be granted to the issues of minority communities
in the localities where their proportion is small compared to the majority
population.
9.
SDP and DAHR shall take
action to apply correctly the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding
between the Prime-Ministers of
Ø
On central level a monitoring committee on the application
of the Memorandum shall be established, including representatives of DAHR.
10.
The Signatories request
that their respective press offices organise,
if necessity occurs, common press conferences or to publish mutually agreed
upon communiquéés to correctly and operatively inform the media and
public opinion.
II. CONCERNIG CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENTARY
GROUPS OF THE SDP AND DAHR.
1. SDP and DAHR request that their parliamentary groups from the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of Romania co-operate actively and permanently to adopt the normative acts of the
legislative program which harmonize with the
regulations of the European Union.
2. The signatories establish
that the leaders of the parliamentary groups and the members of the Standing
Bureau of the two Houses – the members of the SDP and the DAHR – shall consult
weekly or as often as necessary to establish priorities and coherent
viewpoints concerning the draft laws under debate in the Parliament.
3. The two political organizations request that the members of permanent committees –
especially the presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries of the committees –
of the two Houses of the Parliament ensure close and efficient co-operation in
the debate, the drafting of reports and the operative adoption of draft
normative acts.
4. The leaders of
the parliamentary groups of the SDP and the DAHR shall first exchange information and documents on
different draft normative acts.
5. The SDP and the
DAHR ask the deputies and
senators of the Delegation of the Parliament of Romania at the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe and of other international fora, as well as of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups to
continuously co-operate in order to promote the interests of our country on
international level.
III. CONCERNING THE SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE
APPLICATION OF THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAM.
1.
The
SDP and the DAHR commit to support the executive in the
application of the government program, the action plan for 2002 – adopted
by the Parliament of Romania, as well as the strategies of economic and social
development on national, regional and local level.
2.
In the field of the
acceleration of economic reform,
the SDP and the DAHR shall take the necessary parliamentary and governmental
measures to ensure sustained economic growth.
Ø The burden of taxation shall be analyzed and based on the
governing program solutions will be found for its reduction.
Ø The rhythm of privatization of industrial and
agricultural commercial companies shall be accelerated.
Ø The thorough restructuring of the energetic sector shall
be launched.
Ø Measures shall be taken to reduce the existing
financial blockage in economy.
Ø The possibility shall be analyzed that at the
elaboration of the draft budget for 2003, a certain percentage of the tax on
profit, in a degree acceptable to the Parliament, be oriented to support
certain institutions, cultural, educational, denominational and charity
activities, sports associations.
Ø In order to accede to different programs, ensuring the
financial resources shall support small and medium-sized enterprises.
Ø The two
organizations shall support the establishment of the Romanian Agency for
Investment.
· Investments shall be supported paying special
attention to foreign investments to attract foreign and domestic capital.
· Investments in housing shall be supported.
Ø Legislation in the field of commercial contracts shall
be amended in order to strengthen the responsibility of the parties to the
contract.
Ø The draft law on the organization and functioning of
co-operatives shall be finalized. (
3.
The
signatories shall take measures to finalize the restitution process of property.
Ø Based on a national program, the issuing of possession
papers shall end in general, for
land and forest stock until
Ø The Chamber of Deputies shall adopt Government Emergency Act No.102/2001 under its form
adopted in the Senate until
Ø In the case of real estates and movable property of churches,
of associations and organizations including those of national minorities, the Government shall submit to the Parliament
the draft Law on restitution until
Ø The Law on
compensations for real estates that cannot be returned in kind in compliance
with the provisions of Law No. 10/2001 shall be adopted (June 30, 2002).
· The enacting clauses for the provisions of Law No.
10/2001 shall be revised (
4.
Concerning
the decentralization of public administration, the Social Democrat Party and
the Democratic
Ø Sufficient financial resources shall be granted to local
authorities in order that they are able to ensure the quality of services and
the functioning of the institutions placed under the authority of county and
local councils.
· The equitable financial support of public administrations
shall be supported in areas also inhabited by national minorities. In this
respect, the ministries shall support projects on infrastructure and other
projects for these regions.
· The percent separated from the income tax designated for
the financing of local councils shall continue to grow.
· In order to participate directly to the establishment
of local resources, the possibility to collect income tax at the domicile of
the taxpayer shall be analyzed.
· The percentage of sums deriving from income tax and other
sources that remains at the level of local public authorities shall continue to
grow through the Law on Budget.
Ø The application
of the provisions of Law No. 213/1998
on public property and its legal situation concerning public and private
patrimony of public administrations shall be finalized (June 30, 2002)
Ø Measures shall be taken to place public services for
the registers of the population – gradually – under the authority of local
public authorities in compliance with Law No. 308/2001 according to Government
Edict of approval of the national program concerning the application of legal
provisions (
· Emergency-related public service
shall be placed under the authority of local authorities (
· Passport offices shall be placed
under the authority of the prefectures until
Ø The application of the Law on Local Administration No.
215/2001 and its enacting clauses shall be monitored.
· Measures shall be taken for the application and
observance of the provisions of Art. 38 par. „u” of Law No. 215/2001 on giving of or changing the names of
streets, squares and public institutions.
· Decree-Law No.100/1990 shall be annulled (
· The jurisdiction of local public authorities concerning
the giving of and changing the names of pre-university educational institutions
from the respective administrative-territorial unit shall be established.
Ø The opportunity of establishing additional industrial
parks shall be analyzed in counties also inhabited by national minorities.
Ø The establishment of development associations of public
and private partnership system shall be ensured, in compliance with Law No.
215/2001 concerning the association of local public authorities and their right
to allocate funds for initiating and accomplishing regional development
programs for the benefit of the represented communities.
5.
The
SDP and the DAHR shall grant special attention to social protection.
Ø Exigent measures shall be taken for the application of the measures of the Law on the minimum guaranteed income.
Ø The correct
implementation of Law No. 189/2000
on the rights of persons persecuted for ethnic reasons. Therefore, the enacting
clauses shall be finalized by
Ø The draft law on the rights of persons who serve in
military work companies shall be adopted.
Ø The differentiated growth of pensions shall be ensured,
giving priority to small pensions.
· Continuation
of the process of recalculation of pensions to decrease the disequilibria
accumulated during previous years.
· Establishing and payment of pensions in the shortest
possible period after the submittal of the claim for pensioning.
Ø Creating advantageous loan conditions for young graduates to
solve their housing problems.
6.
In
the field of healthcare the SDP and the DAHR shall act exigently to apply the
national strategies and programs to improve the actual state of health of the
populations:
Ø A law shall be adopted on the organization and activity
of hospitals that shall be placed under the authority of local authorities.
Ø The control of the correct and efficient use of the funds
of the
7.
In
educational field the SDP and the DAHR establish as follows:
Ø Maintenance and
development of the institutional framework of education according to various specialties and levels of tuition
– primary, secondary and higher education
·
Continuation of the process of
decentralization, development of the institutional autonomy.
·
Correlation of general educational
objectives in compliance with the real demands of the labor market.
Ø In higher education:
· New faculties and departments with Hungarian language
education shall be established at the "Babeş-Bolyai"
· The possibility to establish the Hungarian language
department of the
· The possibility to establish groups that study in
Hungarian language at the "Gheorghe Dima"
Musical Academy of Cluj-Napoca, the Agronomical
Institution of Cluj-Napoca and "Petru Maior" University of Târgu shall be analyzed, in compliance with the Law in
force.
Ø Pre-university
education:
· Within the framework of state education, according to art.
121 of the Educational Law and in the spirit of the specific recommendations of
the Council of Europe, the study of the Hungarian language shall be studied
depending on concrete and real demand.
· In denominational secondary schools the existing
schooling figures for school year 2001-2002 shall be maintained in the
following years as well.
· The opinion of specialists representing the interests of
national minorities shall be also taken into consideration during the
reorganization of the school network.
· The presence of specialists representing national
minorities shall be ensured in the process of elaboration of regulations
concerning the reform of education.
· The necessary financial support shall be granted from the
Budget of the Ministry of Education and Research for the elaboration and
editing of textbooks for education in the native languages of national
minorities.
8.
In
the audiovisual field the SDP and the DAHR agree as follows:
Ø The territorial television studio of Târgu
Mureş broadcasting in Romanian and Hungarian
languages shall be reestablished.
Ø The Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology shall analyze and solution the development of the aerial network in
order to interconnect the radio and television programs in Hungarian language
as to increase their coherence and consistence both on national and on the
local level.
Ø The development and coverage of the terrestrial
broadcasting network of TVR2 shall be ensured in order to be picked up on the
territory of the entire country.
9.
The
SDP and the DAHR shall co-operate in other important fields such as:
Ø Measures shall be
taken for a more consistent support of religious denominations concerning the construction of new churches and
financial assistance, within the possibilities of the state, and the speedy
restitution of real estates of religious denominations. The real estates
included in Emergency Acts shall be put into the possession of the owners by
Ø The speedy establishment of institutional structures for
the application of the Law for the
elimination of all forms of discrimination, including the representatives
of the Hungarian minority in its managing board. (
Ø The Institute for
the Research of the Problems of National Minorities shall be established with a department for the
problems of the Hungarians. (
Ø The European
Charter for Regional or Minority Languages shall be ratified in an adequate
form. (
Ø The Law on the Status of the Policemen shall include
the provision existing in the Law on Public Servant, namely that
in localities where the percentage of a national
minority is over 20%, policemen speaking the language of the respective
minority shall be employed.
Ø Measures shall be adopted for the use – according to
legal regulations – of national symbols,
and of the symbols of ethnic minorities. (
Ø The Law for the
Protection of the Romanian Language shall
be adopted by the Parliament under a form that also secures the protection of
the languages of national minorities in
Ø Equitable financing
of publishing houses and publications in the languages of national minorities,
as well as of cultural events.
Ø The proportional
representation of national minorities shall
be secured in institutions on national, territorial and local level, including
decision-making functions as well.
IV.
CONCERNING
THE SDP AND THE DAHR CO-OPERATION ON LOCAL LEVEL.
1. Based on and in the spirit of the positive
co-operation on national level between the SDP and the DAHR, the county chapters of the two
organizations (where it is possible) shall
conclude their own agreements for 2002 on county and local levels within 30
days.
Ø The agreements at county level shall be concluded only
with the prior accord of the Committee for the Evaluation of the Agreement on
national level.
2. The SDP and the
DAHR ask all their county
chapters to have a fruitful cooperation on local level and the local and county
councilors to adopt decisions in compliance with the legislation in force and
the interests of the taxpayers of the respective localities.
3. The SDP and the
DAHR ask local authorities
to adopt measures to:
Ø
Establish priorities to renovate
historical monuments that represent important values of the Hungarian culture
in
Ø The Braşov chapter of
the SDP and the DAHR shall co-operate to assign a building site or to find a
building in order to solve the functioning problems of the "Áprily Lajos" Secondary
School.
Ø The Mureş chapter of
the SDP and the DAHR shall co-operate as to revert the
"Bolyai Farkas"
Secondary School to a secondary school with tuition in Hungarian language.
Ø The problem of the Liberty Statuary Group from Arad shall be solved in compliance with the agreement
signed by the mixed governmental commissions and the Memorandum signed by the
Prime Ministers of Romania and Hungary.
4. The leaderships
of the SDP and the DAHR on county level
are obliged to meet, usually weekly, together with the administrative
leaderships and the MPs of the respective counties to analyze and establish the
priorities of the counties.
5. The Signatories shall ask their county chapters to involve themselves
seriously to determine the local councils and town halls to fulfil
their tasks according to their mandate, to
ensure the rapprochement of the administration towards the citizen to
increase the quality and efficiency of public services of the taxpayers.
V.
CONCERNING
THE EVALUATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT ON 2002.
1. The SDP and the DAHR decide to set up a
Committee on Evaluation of the Agreement formed of five representatives of each
political organization.
Ø The Committee for the Evaluation of the Agreement
chaired by two co-chairmen shall usually meet weekly and debate problems
concerning the fulfillment of the goals included in the present Agreement.
Ø On the occasion of the analysis of co-operation on
local level, the representatives of the respective territorial organizations
shall also be invited.
2. The Committee for
Evaluation shall inform monthly
the executive leaderships of the SDP and DAHR on the state and the manner to
solution the goals included in the Agreement
3. Committees of
evaluation shall be established at
the level of those counties in which the local chapters of the SDP and the DAHR
sign an agreement.
4. The Democratic
5. The Social
Democrat Party commits to previously consult DAHR in all the
important matters of domestic and foreign policy.
6. In case the conditions of the present Agreement are
respected, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in
7. The Signatories shall analyze, at the level of the
leaderships of the two political organizations, the goals included in the
Agreement based on the report presented by the Committee of Evaluation and
establish the necessary measures.
Concluded in
THE
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY THE
DEMOCRATIC
OF HUNGARIANS IN
ROMANI
Chairman
Chairman