27-02-2015
As it was stated by Arpad Yanosh Potapi, State Secretary of Hungary, responsible for national policy in the Hungarian government, almost 100 000 persons from Transcarpathian region took citizenship of Hungary on simplified procedure. According to his estimate, Hungary has got 670 000 new citizens from countries neighboring to Hungary under this procedure. In total, 710 00 foreigners submitted applications on this point.
“66% of new citizens of Hungary are from Transylvania, 17% – from Vojvodina, 14% – from Transcarpathia”, – it was reported by Arpad Yanosh Potapi.
Fund of Gabor Betlen supports foreign Hungarians, having its branch also in Transcarpathia. The Hungarian budget provided 17.5 billion forint for its activity for the year 2015. About 100 000 ethnic Hungarians applied for Hungarian citizenship and almost 94 thousand of them were granted this status, – these are 14% residents from Transcarpathia.
As Arpad Yanosh Potapi confirms, Hungarian authority plans to spend in total 17.6 billion forint as assistance of Hungarian Diaspora abroad.
Concerning the governmental program, he said, that in 2015 the program would include Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain in addition to 24 countries engaged in it last year. The program is focused on the relations strengthening by means of assistance to national culture via language courses and other cultural activities. Last year, the state budget allotted 1 billion forint on this program.