Senate adopts draft bill for the establishment of the Roman Catholic Theological High School in Targu Mures

The Senate, as the decision-making body, has adopted on Wednesday the legislative proposal for the establishment of the Romano-Catholic Theological High School in Targu Mures as a pre-university education unit with teaching in Hungarian, a draft formerly adopted by the Chamber of Deputies.

The UDMR legislative proposal received 71 votes for, 4 abstentions and 20 against. In favour of the project voted the senators of PSD, ALDE, USR and UDMR, whereas PNL and PMP voted against, hotnews.ro informs.

In December 2017 the deputies adopted with 172 votes “for”, 62 “against” and 8 abstainers the UDMR project for the establishment of the Theological High School.

The legislative proposal is to regulate the establishment of the Romano-Catholic Theological High School as a pre-university education unit with Hungarian language teaching, part of the national education system, through the partial division of the “Bolyai Farkas” High School in Targu Mures.

The activity of the “Bolyai Farkas” High School was suspended last year, which stirred a diplomatic row between Budapest and Bucharest.

2,500 people took to the street in early September to protest against the legal situation of the school. The court ruled on June that the school couldn’t legally function anymore for it lacked the Education Ministry’s positive approvals.

Hungary has withdrawn the support for Romania’s accession to the OECD, one of the main objectives of Bucharest’s foreign policy, in retort to the suspension of the setting up of a Catholic high school in Targu Mures.

Hungary argued that Romania’s decision is an attack “against the Catholic Church, against the Hungarian minority, against the children and families affected,” Magyar Levente, State Secretary with the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, said at the time.

In June a court of law has cancelled the setting up of the Catholic High School in Târgu Mureş. A DNA file was opened on this issue.