04 January 2011

HUNGARY/ ROMANIA/ SLOVAKIA : Hungarian Passport Demand Surges Under New Citizenship Law.

BBC/ Laurence Peter /

    Thousands are applying for Hungarian passports at Romanian consulates in regions that used to be part of Hungary after a new citizenship law took effect
   One expert said "hundreds of thousands" would apply in Transylvania, northern Romania. Officially Romania has about 1.5 million ethnic Hungarians, though some estimate "nearly two million".
   Some Slovakian politicians have condemned the law because southern Slovakia has about 500,000 ethnic Hungarians, nearly 10 percent of the population.