The Role of European Union Funds in the Economic Development of Szeklerland

Kocsis, Lóránt Zsombor (2023) The Role of European Union Funds in the Economic Development of Szeklerland. HUNGARIAN JOURNAL OF MINORITY STUDIES, 6. pp. 7-30. ISSN 2560-080X

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Abstract

The most significant part of the Hungarian population in Transylvania lives in Szeklerland. In the other regions, the population can be considered as scattered, constituting a minor, and in most cases negligible, Hungarian minority presence. However, Szeklerland is not an administratively recognized territory; it has, so to speak, psychological borders, the lines of which are drawn by ethnic and cultural characteristics. The future development of this region can be said, without exaggeration, to be directly linked to the well-being and survival of the Hungarian minority in Romania. This paper shows which administratively recognized development region it belongs to nationally, where it lags behind in terms of global economic mechanisms, and its level of development according to macroeconomic indicators at the national (mainly Transylvanian) level in relation to other regions. The EU’s aid policy could provide a solution in terms of correcting the shortcomings and gaps identified and in achieving future development, which offers significant po- tential resources for the catching-up of similar regions. However, when exploring the opportunity for economic development, we cannot ignore the unparalleled potential of the region under analy- sis, embodied by its natural beauty, biodiversity, value-preserving traditions, multiculturalism, and strategic geographical location.

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