Romania's ethnic Hungarians threaten to quit government

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• published: 30 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST Turia, Central Romania - 18 June 2011 1. Wide of Hungarian folklore band singing during a holiday in Turia 2. Close of child, dressed in traditional Hungarian costume, getting ready for a performance to celebrate the holiday 3. Mid of Hungarian children dancing and singing 4. Set-up of Attila Daragus, the Mayor of Turia, looking at a local monument 5. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Attila Daragus, the mayor of Turia: "Now if we are talking about Szekely land, the administrative centre will be in Targu Mures and that is going to be a problem for me as I'll have to drive 200 kilometres (125 miles) to reach there for any kind of administrative duties. To be honest, if it were for me to decide, I would say 'let's leave things as they are now, let's not change things as we are use to the way things are now'. Now everyone has his own interests, everyone thinks as he pleases. For me personally I would leave the things as they are now." 6. Wide of map of current Romania 7. Close of Targul Secuiesc on the map, a city near where the traditional Hungarian celebrations took place Bucharest - 17 June 2011 8. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Kelemen Hunor, President of the Union of Democratic Hungarians in Romania: "I am convinced that, like in 1968, during Ceausescu's (former Romanian Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu) ruling the Secui (ethnic group of Transylvania) took to the streets as result of the administrative reform. It was the only time when people took to the streets during those times, if someone forces the Hungarian community to split up in Harghita, Covasna and Mures regions, people will again protest on the streets." Bucharest - 18 June 2011 9. Exterior of University of History in Bucharest 10. People reading in the library at the University of History 11. Various close ups of old Romanian maps depicting Romanian territories under Austro Hungarian rule (namely Transylvania, in which the three counties of the controversial administrative reforms are located) 12. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Sever Voinescu, Politician from the PDL (Democrat Liberal Party): "If we think ethnically, then we have to admit that we've kissed goodbye to the idea of development of the country. For example, in this particular situation, putting together Covasna, Harghita and Mures counties would transform this whole region in to an area of poverty because the first two are among the most impoverished counties in Romania." 13. People studying in the library at the University of History Bucharest - 17 June 2011 14. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Stelian Tanase, Political Commentator: "I'm afraid that due to poverty and the current economic crisis and the upcoming elections this topic will become the dominant theme of discussion and the radical will gain more influence and that is the worse thing that could happen to Romania." 15. Wide of map of Covasna County Turia, Central Romania - 18 June 2011 16. Various of Hungarian children dancing and singing to celebrate the holiday 17. Various of Hungarian children STORYLINE As children from Romania's ethnic Hungarian community enjoy folk dancing and holiday celebrations in the central town of Turia, the mood could not be further away from the political and ethnic dispute which is threatening to topple the Romanian government. A row over how Romania should be divided has flared up over the past week, after President Traian Basescu failed to back proposals to create a new region incorporating a mainly Hungarian area in central Romania. Earlier this month, Basescu said he wanted to divide Romania into eight regions rather than 41 counties and the capital, to give the regions more administrative autonomy from Bucharest. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/83c5f12a92e3af4adc9421e3408e2e4e Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork