Joint Declaration on geoblocking signed by minority regions at FUEN Congress

At the 69th FUEN Congress in Bozen/Bolzano, representatives of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, the Autonomous Province of Bozen–South Tyrol and the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) signed a Joint Declaration calling for stronger European action against unjustified geoblocking and for cross-border access to audiovisual media in minority languages.

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The declaration was presented during the panel discussion “Geoblocking: How MSPI and the Regions Are Tackling It,” featuring Arno Kompatscher, Governor of South Tyrol; Oliver Paasch, Minister-President of Ostbelgien; Anke Spoorendonk, Member of the Minority SafePack Initiative Citizens’ Committee; and Günther Platter, Director of the South Tyrol Broadcasting Centre (RAS).

In their statement, the signatories reaffirmed their shared commitment to ensuring that citizens belonging to national and linguistic minorities can access media content in their own language across borders. They emphasized that linguistic access to media is a cornerstone of minority protection and cultural identity, as recognised by the EU Treaties, the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The signatories jointly called on the European institutions to take all necessary measures to guarantee cross-border access to audiovisual services for minority communities and to reform the EU’s Geoblocking Regulation to reflect Europe’s linguistic and cultural diversity.