Romania Will Be Normal When An Ethnic Hungarian Has Equal Chance To Be President

Kelemen, who is the executive president of UDMR, the party that represents the interests of Romania's 1.4 million ethnic Hungarians, said Romania must discard its ethnic prejudices to be considered a normal country, worthy of the twenty-first century.

"I've heard comments recently that I'm a smart guy but too bad I'm Hungarian. Romania will be a normal country when it starts considering ethnic Hungarians and all other minorities as equal citizens and when it discards the mentality that because someone is of Hungarian ethnicity, they have slim chances of becoming president," Kelemen said.

"When Romania reaches that stage of development where people stop thinking it's a pity someone is Hungarian or German, then it will be worthy of the twenty-first century," he added.

UDMR, along all other parliamentary parties except the Democratic Liberal Party, backed Sibiu mayor Klaus Johannis, an ethnic German, for prime minister after the minority democrat liberal government lost a confidence vote. However, President Traian Basescu ignored the majority's proposition and designated economist Lucian Croitoru for the position. Croitoru's Cabinet faces a confidence vote in Parliament next week.

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