Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic in the focus of the online conference “Minority Protection and Ethnic Group Rights in Central and Central Eastern Europe”

FUEN's international conference "Minority Protection and Ethnic Group Rights in Central and Central Eastern Europe" held in October 2020 was met with great interest among the participants. Therefore, FUEN has decided to continue the conference in spring 2021 in collaboration with the Cultural Foundation of German Expellees for Science and Research.

This spring we will present an overall picture of minority protection and ethnic group rights in nine selected states from the perspective of theory and practice with contributions from science and politics. The conference series will be held on one day each at the end of the months of February, March and April 2021 and each conference day will be dedicated to three country reports. Thematically, the country reports will focus on the key issues of the educational situation, political participation and access to the minority language.

The series will start on 25 February 2021 with the countries Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic. At the end of March, the countries Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia will follow. On the final conference day at the end of April, the focus will be on Estonia, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

The conference day on the 25^th of February will start at 15:00 CET, the discussions and debates will be streamed live on FUEN’s YouTube channel. Those who would like to actively take part in the discussion and to formulate questions can register at the conference’s website, Minorityconf.org. If you would like to get updates on social media about the conference, please join our Facebook event!

The planned programme of the first conference day on 25 February 2021 from 15:00-17:00

1. Welcoming

• Loránt Vincze, FUEN President, MEP
• Reinfried Vogler, Chairman of the Cultural Foundation of German Expellees, Kronberg/T.

2. Greetings

• Stephan Mayer MdB, Parl. State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Interior, Germany

3. Introduction and short summary on the conference in October

• Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Gilbert H. Gornig, Philipps University of Marburg, Germany

4. Country Reports I

• Minority Protection in Austria, regulations: Univ. Prof. Dr. Peter Hilpold, University of Innsbruck, Austria

• Minority Protection in Austria, implementation: Olga Voglauer, Member of the National Council, spokesperson on ethnic groups - die Grünen, Austria

• Questions und Discussion

Moderation: Sergiu Constantin, EURAC Research

5. Country Reports II

• Minority Protection in Italy, regulations: Dr. Davide Zaffi, Südtiroler Volksgruppeninstitut

• Minority Protection in Italy, implementation:Daniel Alfreider, FUEN Vice-President, Deputy Governor of the Autonomous Region of Bolzano South Tyrol, Italy

• Questions und Discussion

Moderation: Sergiu Constantin, EURAC Research

6. Country Reports III

• Minority Protection in Czech Republic, regulations
• Minority Protection in Czech Republic, implementation: Martin Dzingel, President of the National Assembly of Germans in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia

• Questions und Discussion

Moderation: Sergiu Constantin, EURAC Research

7. Summary and Conclusion

• Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Gilbert H. Gornig, Philipps University of Marburg, Germany