Favourable conditions for a successful FUEN Congress in Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca

The autochthonous national minorities of Europe are on the same page regarding the Minority Safepack Citizen’s Initiative – was the conclusion of the conference held on the subject in the European Parliament. FUEN president Vincze Loránt stated: the initiative of the RMDSZ, the FUEN’s initiative has made a strong ally, the strongest one yet, in fact. President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, has assured us of his full support. The Minority Intergroup of the EP, and several MEPs have also expressed their support for the initiative, added Vincze, who believes every condition has been met for ensuring a successful congress of the FUEN in Kolozsvár, Cluj-Napoca during May 17-21. The congress will serve as the symbolic starting point for gathering the one million signatures required to support the Minority SafePack Initiative.

Vincze Loránt presented the closing statement adopted on the occasion of the Hit the road – the Minority SafePack Initiative and the European Parliament conference, held on 4th of May 2017. The conference organised by the umbrella organisation of the autochthonous national minorities took place under the high patronage of EP president Antonio Tajani, and was attended Members of the European Parliament, the Minority SafePack Initiative Citizens’ Committee, leaders of the the Federal Union of European Nationalities, and representatives of autochthonous minorities, national communities, ethnic groups and linguistic minorities' organizations.

The jointly signed statement says: persons belonging to minorities are of fundamental value to the European Union. Autochthonous, traditional and historical minorities and regional language groups are key elements of the Unions’ rich cultural and linguistic diversity, as stated in the Treaty on the European Union. Yet they are facing difficulties when demanding rights or legal protection from their national governments.

According to the document many European minority groups report violations of minority and human rights, denial of state authorities to respect the national legislation or the minority standards set in international agreements signed and ratified by their respective national governments. In some cases, even basic recognition of the minority status is denied.

Equal opportunities are not guaranteed in the use of mother tongue in the public sphere or in accessing public services. Due to bureaucratic burdens, mismanagement or insufficient financing education in the mother tongue is often jeopardized. Lacking proper financial means and support, small minority groups and languages are in an especially difficult situation. Their organizations struggle for fundamental rights and non-discrimination and demand support for public minority education, cultural institutions, minority press and audiovisual media – states the document.

Though in certain Member States a set of legal acts were adopted in order to protect minority cultures and languages, and such solutions became widely accepted by the respective societies, best practices are rarely taken into account in other Member States. The document also draws attention to the fact that the EU applies a double standard since the political criteria set in the accession process is not verified anymore once a state becomes an EU member. This practice creates disparity in minority rights standards and also discourages long-lasting minority protection solutions in pre-accession countries.

The current programmes and projects of the European Commission aiming to preserve the EU's language and linguistic diversity lack coherence especially by not including national minorities and linguistic groups – the document finds.

Therefore, the signees of the document welcome the partial registration of the Minority SafePack Initiative by the European Commission, and express their regrets vis-à-vis that this only became possible after the decision of the EU Court of Justice supporting the appeal of the initiators. The Minority SafePack Initiative represents a rightful demand presented on behalf of 60 million Europeans belonging to minority or language groups – they pointed out.  

The signatories fully support of the launch of the MSPI petition campaign and consider that the proposed legal acts are the right approach and the first step in creating an EU framework for the protection of autochthonous minorities, national communities, ethnic groups and minority languages.

The document calls on the representatives of autochthonous minorities, national communities, ethnic groups and linguistic minorities' organizations from the European Union to do their utmost effort to jointly achieve a successful, Europe-wide petition campaign.

Furthermore the statement calls on every EU citizen to support the autochthonous minorities and the European linguistic and cultural diversity by signing the petition. Finally it calls on the European Parliament, the Member States, regions, political parties, governments and parliaments to support the initiative and contribute through their means to the success of the petition campaign.