Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (Határon Túli Magyarok Hivatala – HTMH)
It was established in 1992 as a central office with autonomous management powers (by Government Decree 90/1992.
[(V. 29.) ]) and ceased to exist on 31 December 2006 (based on Government Decree 364/2006. (XII. 28.)). The tasks of the Office included liaising with organisations of Hungarians living around the world and government bodies responsible for minority issues in individual countries; cooperating with interested Hungarian ministries, national bodies and others; coordinating government activities related to Hungarians living beyond the borders and the international diaspora, and preparing analyses and forecasts.
As a precursor, the Secretariat for Hungarians Beyond the Borders was established in 1990 at the Prime Minister’s Office under the supervision of Minister Without Portfolio Balázs Horváth and under the leadership of State Secretary Géza Entz. The Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (Határon Túli Magyarok Hivatala – HTMH) was created from the Secretariat of Hungarians Beyond the Borders. The predecessor of the Secretariat was the Ethnic and Minority College established in 1989 under the leadership of Csaba Tabajdi and subsequently its Secretariat. By the beginning of 1994, an administrative system for dealing with the affairs of Hungarians living beyond the borders had been established which remained unchanged until the end of 2006, based on the cooperation of three different actors:, the office responsible for the issue, the subdivisions of the sectoral ministries and several public foundations.
In addition to the Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (Határon Túli Magyarok Hivatala – HTMH) and the (main) departments of the Ministry of Culture and Public Education dealing with cross-border issues the Illyés Foundation, the Kézfogás Foundation, the László Teleki Foundation, the Pro Professione Foundation, the Helping Right-hand Foundation and the Lajos Mocsáry Foundation were established. A Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (Határon Túli Magyarok Hivatala – HTMH) was chaired by Géza Entz, László Lábody, Erika Törzsök, Tibor Szabó, József Bálint-Pataki and Attila Komlós.
The work of the Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (Határon Túli Magyarok Hivatala – HTMH) essentially comprised organizing and operating Hungarian-Ukrainian, Hungarian-Croatian, Hungarian-Slovenian, Hungarian-Slovakian and Hungarian-Romanian minority joint committees established in the wake of the basic treaties. By the middle of the 1990s it had become clear that the aspirations for autonomy of the Hungarian minorities were being rejected by the political elites of the majority nations in the countries concerned and that the expected international support was also lacking. In the meantime three countries have opened up the possibility for Hungarian parties to participate in government. With the cooperation of the Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (Határon Túli Magyarok Hivatala – HTMH) a new basic institution called Hungarian Standing Conference (MÁÉRT, 1999) was created and the Status Law (2001) on Hungarians living beyond the border was passed. The Office was closed down at the end of 2006 and a significant part of its tasks relating to providing aids was transferred to Native Land Fund (Szülőföld Alap). The administrative functions of the Office were taken over by the Prime Minister’s Office.