FUEN partnering up with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

On 12 October, FUEN had several meetings with leaders of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) of the Council of Europe, including with Pedro Agramunt, the President of the Assembly, the leaders of the three largest political groups, a number of national delegations and individual PACE-members.

The FUEN delegation consists of President Loránt Vincze, Gösta Toft (Vice President), Frank de Boer (legal advisor), Jens A. Christiansen (spokesperson of the FUEN European Dialogue Forum) and Tanja Novotni-Golubić (Member of the FUEN European Dialogue Forum). They had come to Strasbourg on the day before to attend the conference about the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

The President of the Parliamantary Assembly, Pedro Agramunt, invited the FUEN-delegation into his office and took his time to listen to the presentation and proposals made by FUEN. He said that he would welcome a more regular presence of the European minorities in the Council of Europe.

The leaders of the three largest political groups (Michele Nicoletti of the Socialist Group, Jordi Xuclà of the Liberals and Axel Fischer of the European People’s Party) also showed great understanding for the concerns of FUEN in regard to the issues of the autochthonous national minorities in Europe. They were very positive about FUEN’s plans to become more active inside the Council of Europe and to enhance cooperation with the European minorities. 

They, and other Members of PACE from the delegations of Denmark, Hungary, Serbia and Spain offered their support for the ideas and involvement of FUEN. The Members also suggested constructive ways and possibilities for FUEN to become more effective in influencing the Council of Europe’s policies.

FUEN would like to thank Attila Korodi, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly on behalf of RMDSZ (the FUEN member organisation representing the Hungarian community in Romania) for his great help in arranging these meetings.