Hungarian Democrat (UDMR) president Marko Bela declared in Targu Mures, Central Romania on Saturday that Romanian pupils residing in cities where ethnic Hungarians live should take mandatory Hungarian classes. He added that he would initiate a bill on the issue, as soon as the moment is right, news agency NewsIn informs.

Bela declared that the Hungarian language should be considered as important as the English language especially if there are cities in which Hungarian is spoken everywhere on the streets.

He added that his party does not push for a national regulation in this sense, but there are many cities across Romania where speaking Hungarian is a necessity. Moreover, he added that the requirement should be introduced in the school curricula as early as possible, so that the children be able to learn it faster.