The Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș (, FCRCHM) is a forum grouping some 45 organizations of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș counties in Romania as of 2022. These counties have a large ethnically Hungarian population made up of the Székely subgroup, although ethnic Romanians also live in them. The FCRCHM was founded on 4 June 2005 and aims to organize the ethnic Romanian population in these counties to prevent its disappearance; for this purpose, it has organized various events and initiatives.
The FCRCHM opposes the Székely autonomy movement and sees the adoption of national symbols by the Székely minority as proof of a closed and separatist attitude by the Hungarians. It has also become involved in controversies after suing the Government of Romania for the approval of a flag for Covasna County and for the city of Sfântu Gheorghe with Székely symbolry and without any type of representation for their Romanian population within the flags. The forum has been accused of being a Romanian nationalist and anti-Hungarian organization by Hungarian-language media.
History
The FCRCHM was founded on 4 June 2005 in Miercurea Ciuc at the Eparchial Center of the Diocese of Covasna and Harghita of the Romanian Orthodox Church. It encompassed at the time 12 organizations of the counties of Covasna and Harghita and was known as the Civic Forum of the Romanians of Harghita and Covasna (, ). The event had the participation of , the diocese's bishop, who was declared honorary president and said that the establishment of such an organization was necessary. Covasna and Harghita counties, as well as Mureș County, are home to the Székelys, an ethnic subgroup of the Hungarians of around 600,000 people who form the majority, though not the only population, in the set of these three counties, often referred to as Székely Land. The Székelys have sought autonomy within Romania, but this has always been met with strong opposition within the country.
The forum claims that its objective is to coordinate Romanian civil society in these counties in order to preserve Romanian identity in the area and ensure a successful interethnic coexistence with other local communities. The FCRCHM opposes the Székely autonomy movement, which it argues is aimed at the oppression and assimilation of the local Romanians. As of 2022, the FCRCHM comprised some 45 organizations from the three counties. Hungarian journalists and Hungarian-language media have accused the forum of being Romanian nationalist and engaging into anti-Hungarian rhetoric. As of 2014, the FCRCHM included some 25 organizations from Covasna and Harghita but also from Mureș counties; by this point it was already known as the Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș (, ).
In a 2010 memorandum, the forum declared that the ethnic Romanians at Covasna, Harghita and Mureș counties were "fighting" for the survival of their identity. The memorandum added that the Hungarian community "is turning into a closed ethnic mass, stuck between its own obsessively segregationist mental boundaries"; the adoption of an anthem, coat of arms and flag of their own would be evidence of this according to the memorandum. It made an appeal to state authorities, national institutions and to Romanian society in general to take steps for the adoption of legislative measures that would ensure the situation of ethnic Romanians in these counties. This memorandum was adopted during a meeting in Toplița which counted with the participation of the then president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Victor Ponta, who expressed his opposition for Székely autonomy.
On 10 July 2018, during the Centenary March, members of the FCRCHM among several other organizations received the participants of the march at Târgu Mureș.