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This online talk aims to explore potentials of non-territorial autonomy (NTA), core practical challenges, and prospects for better practical outreach (both widening and deepening) of the concept. It is structured around four main topics: the nexus and tension between the territorial and personal principles in the minority protection; labeling the concept as “autonomy”; membership; and competences: NTA institutions as minority agents. The panelists are Prof. Zsuzsa Csergő, Prof. Levente Salat and Prof. David Smith. You can watch here the recording of this online talk.

The Institute for Minority Rights of Eurac Research organized a webinar series investigating the challenges minorities worldwide are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this webinar, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Francesco Palermo and Sergiu Constantin discussed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on minority communities, on dynamics between centres and peripheries, and on inter-state relations. The immediate reactions to the pandemic included a "war rhetoric" with an explicit or tacit requirement of loyalty and obedience, closure of borders, and centralization from the territories to the centre and from parliaments to executives. The pandemic shows time and again that there is no one-size-fit-all solution for cultural and territorial governance. Watch the webinar video or read the webinar brief​.​​​

Romania's Senate rejected a plan to establish an autonomous region for ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania. Under the proposal, Hungarian would have become a second official language in state institutions in the area known as Szeklerland. The region would have flown its own flag and had the right to pass its own laws and manage its own finances. Romanian President accused the Social Democrats, Romania's largest party which is currently in opposition, of striking a secret deal with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and plotting to give "Transylvania to the Hungarians". Read more…