Dialogue Forum from the German-Danish border region visits Brussels

DialogForumNorden (“Dialogue Forum North”) is a loose association of the four minorities and several cross-border institutions in Schleswig-Holstein and the south of Denmark. The Forum is chaired by Renate Schnack, the Schleswig-Holstein Minority Commissioner, and meets a few times each year. Also the FUEN is involved in DialogForumNorden.

On 28-29 September the Forum organised a study visit to Brussels. Vice President Gösta Toft participated on behalf of FUEN. The delegation had meetings with representatives of several European institutions and organisations, such as the European Parliament, where they spoke with Danish and German Members of Parliament, as well as with the co-chair of the Minority Intergroup. Mr Nils Torvalds. They discussed with Karl-Heinz Lambertz, the Vice President of the Committee of the Regions, about minority policy in Europe.  

After the delegation had a short meeting with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schultz, FUEN President Loránt Vincze told the group about the work of FUEN in Brussels, and on the challenging task of FUEN to promote minority issues in the European Union institutions. Vincze praised the Dialogue Forum as an exemplary model of cooperation between minorities and decision makers and expressed his hope that it would be possible in the future to establish such a forum of institutional cooperation at the European Parliament and the European Commission.

The objective of the study visit to Brussels, said Minority Commissioner Renate Schnack, was to present the underestimated potential of regions with cultural and linguistic diversity for Europe as a whole. It is furthermore essential, she said, that demands by European minorities and linguistic communities for consistent implementation of their rights in all EU Member States and European countries are reaffirmed. Violations against these rights can no longer be accepted.

Photo above: © EU 2016 - EP, photo below: Renate Schnack, Loránt Vincze and Ulrike Rodust MEP