Fifth Forum on Minority Issues 27-28 November, 2012 Statement by H.E. Andras Dekany, Permanent Representative of Hungary Item 4 Practical use of the Declaration: Identification of good practices and positive measures Madam Chair, Madam Independent Expert, The recently adopted new Fundamental Law of Hungary safeguards the languages and culture of nationalities living in Hungary, and at the same time secures the active participation of the state in promoting nationality languages. The Fundamental Law declares that nationalities living in Hungary are constituent parts of the state; every Hungarian citizen belonging to any nationality has the right to freely express and preserve his or her identity. Nationalities living in Hungary have the right to use their native languages and to the individual and collective use of names in their own languages, to promote their own cultures, and to be educated in their native languages. Nationalities living in Hungary have the right to establish local and national self-governments. It should be emphasized, that laws related to the preservation and development of settlements with nationality historical traditions and of their architectural monuments cannot be enacted without requesting the opinion of the nationality self-government with nation-wide competence concerned. Similarly, the opinion of the nationality self-governments should also be asked when passing government regulations in connection with the implementation of the act on public education. An important new element is that the nationality self-government with nation-wide competence may go to court directly, with reference to the violation of nationality rights, requesting