Europe - Conflict Points of Different Cultures and the Consequences of the Modern Migration

The conference which aimed to discuss the social, theological, political aspects of the above mentioned topic on national and international level was organised May, 27-28th 2005 in the Reformed Congregation Centre in Fugyivásárhely.

The question regarding this topic is what the history of the Jewish people is all about? What does the Bible tell us about the "chosen people"? What kind of models can be enumerated from the life of the Jews or of the Christians? Zsolt D. Kozma PhD.- retired professor of the Protestant Theological University from Cluj - in his lecture "Migration, Dispersion, Mission in the Jewry and Christianity" have presented the reasons, results and consequences of the migration of the formal and nowadays people of God, and the surviving chances of the people who are living today in migration. 

"Cultural Purity in Europe: Myth or Reality?" -   the historian Johan Snel, professor of the Christian University in Ede - co-worker of the SGP in the Netherlands - described in details what migration processes have been taking place in the world history, what it have meant to the nations' culture or even to the transformation of the European culture. The lecturer presented - through the widely known research's results of Samuel P. Huntington - those religious and political efforts that were made through the history and today are seen as clearly defined cultural borders. These borders due to migration had as a result the invigoration and the strengthening of some cultures, but also the depression and disappearance of other cultures. At the same time it became clear for the audience which eras' dominant religious and political cultures have been defining until today the different parts of the world.

The third speaker of the day was Mr. Hunor Kelemen the president of the RMDSZ parliamentarian fraction.  In his presentation called: "Theme performance" he talked aboutthe efforts being done by the RMDSZ - minority representative political organization - from the years 1992 until today where they have been trying to slow down the migration of the Hungarian people from Romania to Western Europe. All the laws, which in the last 15 years have been prepared by him and came into force with the cooperation of the RDMSZ, had the aim to slow down, even more to stop the migration from Romanian. In the second part of his presentation he talked about the necessity, but also the barriers and difficulties of the "minority law" which is now being discussed in the Parliament.

The first lecture of the second day of the conference was made by Jacques Bazen - professor on the University in Amersfoort - who was also representing the SGP Netherlands. The title of his presentation was "The Phenomenon of the Modern Migration and Their Consequences in the European Union".

The speaker has not just talked about the migration to the Netherlands but also about the migration problems and challenges of the Dutch people who are living in diasporas.

In the presentation he described also some of those efforts that illustrate the interest of the European Union to those phenomena which cause the occasional migrations. The conception of the European Union is to establish a political and economical coalition, where the migration socially is no more justified. The existence of the actual migration is indicating that some of the problems are not yet sufficiently solved.

The last speaker of the seminar weekend was the publicist Aladár Szilágyi, whose lecture was laced with his observations and experiences. In the first part of his presentation called: "Are the Western European Regional Models in Romania Applicable?" he presented one European place, whose citizens became the citizens of five different countries without leaving their place of residence, or without migrating from their birthplace to any other place, and in this way they could also experience five different political and cultural migration. 

The second part of his presentation called "Regio Trirena" was about the Basel - Freiburg - Mulhouse-Colmar European cooperation model at the French - Swiss - German border triangle. This marvellous model with many interesting details was presented not only through political but also cultural and economical context.

Each presentation was followed by short breaks then by plenary sessions where question can be asked and discussed about the given topic.

The conference was attended by approximately 60 people, mostly students, representatives of the civil sectors, priests and volunteers who were following all the presentations with big interest.

Our Foundation is convinced that with this conference with the help of the experts could be discussed the current issue of our presence in Transylvania.