German Minorities meet with Foreign Minister Gabriel in Berlin

For the 26th time the Working Group of German Minorities meets this week in Berlin.

Around 45 participants from 17 countries will join the meeting, which is held in Berlin between the 19-22 June. It is the 26th anniversary of the German Minorities Working Group (AGDM).

Organized by the European umbrella organisation the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), representatives of German minorities from all over Europe meet to discuss their concerns and cooperation with the Federal Republic of Germany.

For the ambitious political program, the last preparations are currently being made by the Berlin Coordination Office of the AGDM, headed by Éva Pénzes. The conference will be held in close coordination with the Federal Government Commissioner for Resettlement and National Minorities, MdB Hartmut Koschyk.

Koschyk enabled a reception by the Federal Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, at the Federal Foreign Office, a visit to the Bundestag with the Federal President Prof. Dr. Lammert and a meeting with the Minister of State Prof. Monika Grütters in the Federal Chancellery.

"The yearly meeting of the Working Group is the annual highlight of our collaboration. The discussions and political meetings serve to reclaim our important role as German minorities in our respetive countries and in a European context. Especially in a politically and socially tense time.", says AGDM spokesperson Bernard Gaida.

The program also includes participation at the Memorial Day of the Federal Government on the occasion of the Memorial Day for the Victims of Escape and Expulsion on 20th of June in the German Historical Museum in Berlin. This years speech is to be held by the President of Romania, Klaus Johannis, a member of the German minority in Romania.

The representatives of this year 's meeting are invited to the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Berlin, which invites all partners and friends to a reception with a cultural program and presentation of the German minority from Slovakia.

The meetings will be accompanied by FUEN President Loránt Vincze, who will take the opportunity to present the European Citizens Initiative Minority SafePack. The initiative, which calls for protection for members of national minorities and the strengthening of cultural and linguistic diversity in the EU, is a European framework for all minorities. The initiative was presented at the beginning of June by the Federal Government Commissioner for Immigration and National Minorities, MdB Hartmut Koschyk, in the German Bundestag and is regarded as the most far-reaching political initiative of the last 20 years in the field of European minority protection.


For more information and photos contact

Working Group of German Minorities (AGDM)
Bundesallee 216-218
Éva Pénzes

10719 Berlin, Germany
Phone: (030) 30 1868114613
agdm-media@fuen.org
www.agdm.fuen.org


Background information

The Working Group of German Minorities (AGDM)

In Europe there are German minorities in more than 20 countries. Many of them are organized under the FUEN, the largest European umbrella organisation for authochtonous, national minorities and ethnic groups.

On the initiative of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), a working group was established in Budapest in 1991, which brings together all the german speaking organisations, which are also affiliated with FUEN. As a rule, the working group of German minorities meets once a year. At the annual meeting all German minorities are invited to join the exchange of information and participate in dialogues with decision-makers.