Bucharest, May 9 /Agerpres/ - Iuliu Winkler, MEP, representative of UDMR [Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania, a ruling coalition partner] running for a new term in the European Parliament on his party's list, is optimistic about the participation of the Hungarian community of Transylvania (central-western Romania) in the 25 May poll; he thinks that the members of this community see the European Union as a support for development and for gaining autonomy.
Winkler considers that the UDMR stands chances of better results than in the previous elections, namely three MEP seats instead of the current two, if it manages to keep alive the Hungarian minority's hope and optimism.
'It is hard to estimate what will happen in the European Parliament elections, but I hope that the Hungarian community in Transylvania would cast the largest possible number of votes. My experience over the last two weeks, not to mention the last seven years, shows that the Hungarian voters understand that the EU is a source of modernization, and could be - although so far it's not, it could become - a fulcrum for our need to build various forms of autonomy and various form of community self-organization,' the MEP said.
He pointed out that the Hungarians of Romania have cast 8.8 of the overall number of votes in 2007, when their community had internal competition, while in 2009, when it had a common list of EP candidates under UDMR's leading, they produced 8.9 of the national votes, therefore there are good odds for preserving this percentage.
Winkler reminded that Romania is a 'net beneficiary' of the European Union, as it got more money than it contributed to the European community budget. AGERPRES