Semjen: State supports ethnic Hungarian parties, organisations abroad

The Hungarian state supports ethnic Hungarian parties and organisations abroad because this serves Hungarian interests and it is in line with the constitution, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen said at the summer university in Baile Tusnad (Tusnadfurdo), central Romania. The Hungarian state is currently spending an annual 130 billion forints (EUR 400m) on ethnic Hungarian communities as against 9 billion forints in 2009, Semjen said. The initial aim for supporting these communities was to help them preserve their identity, he said. Then a few years ago economic development schemes were launched and these have created win-win situations, he added.