The Chamber of Deputies rejected the AUR bill proposing to change the name of the Balvanyos resort to “Bălvăniș”

The Chamber of Deputies rejected on Wednesday, as the decision-making body, the bill initiated by AUR lawmakers to change the name of the Balvanyos tourist resort, in Covasna County, to Bălvăniș. The bill was rejected by 166 votes, while 56 deputies voted for its adoption and two abstained. One deputy did not vote.

The initiative had previously also been rejected by the Senate, so the resort’s official name remains Balvanyos. It is located within the municipality of Turia and is also known as Băile Balvanyos.

AUR lawmakers argued that the current written form does not comply with the orthographic and orthoepic rules of the Romanian language, making it difficult to pronounce correctly. In the explanatory memorandum, they stated that the name represents a hybrid form, neither Romanian nor fully Hungarian, and proposed using the toponym Bălvăniș.

UDMR President, Kelemen Hunor, criticized the initiative, accusing AUR of ultranationalism and of ethnicizing public debates. He mocked the bill and argued that the name change would not be approved by Parliament.