Millions of Turks, Serbs, Moldovans, Ukrainians and Macedonians could soon be European citizens, thanks to some fancy footwork by new member states

History and the perceived injustices of the past have provided them with a means to circumvent immigration barriers. While Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian political leaders are hoping to reap the benefits of being perceived as the bearers of this unexpected gift, officials in the capitals of Old Europe are none too happy.

A new Hungarian law on dual nationality, which could concern up to 3.5 million people, will offer the keys to the European labour market to 300,000 Serbs of Hungarian origin in the autonomous province of Vojvodina and to 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in the Ukraine when it comes into force in January. It has also ratcheted up tensions between Hungary and two other EU states: 1.4 million Magyars live in Romania, and there are 520,000 Hungarians in Slovakia (10 % of the population). Slovak authorities were particularly offended by the plan.

The bill proposed by right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban and supported by the extreme-right in the Budapest parliament, can be interpreted as a revenge or a provocation. Hungary has never really recovered from the trauma of the Trianon Treaty, which cut away two thirds of the country’s territory and effectively exiled half of its population in June 1920. By way of reprisal, the parliament in Bratislava adopted a law stipulating that anyone who availed of the offer of Hungarian nationality would automatically lose their Slovak passport.

Bulgarian refugees in Turkey

Following Hungary’s example, Bulgaria has simplified procedures for the granting of Bulgarian nationality to approximately 2.5 millions Bulgarians living in areas scattered across the Ukraine, Moldova, Albania and Greece and in particular in Macedonia and Turkey. On this basis, roughly 1.4 million Macedonians (or three-quarters of the Macedonian population) will now be able to obtain European passports. For certain historians, Macedonians are a subgroup of the Bulgarian nation, and the Macedonian language is simply a dialect of Bulgarian.

Sofia is also concerned about the fate of Bulgarian Turks and Pomaks (Bulgarians who converted to Islam during the Ottoman period). Before the fall of communism, this minority, which includes an estimated 900,000 people, was the victim of a policy of forced assimilation and discrimination that continued right up to the fall of communism. The 350,000 Turks and Pomaks who fled to Turkey to escape this oppression will now not have to wait for the completion of accession negotiations with Ankara before they apply to obtain EU passports.