WRITTEN QUESTION E-0664/02

by Feleknas Uca (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(8 March 2002)

Subject: Cultural and linguistic rights of minorities in EU candidate countries

The integration of ethnic and religious minorities into society is a requirement for democratic stability. Certain EU candidate countries are still a long way from reaching this goal, for example Turkey, which grants ethnic and religious minorities no rights.

The Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is designed to establish the individual rights of those belonging to minority groups. Which EU candidate countries have ratified and implemented this framework convention?

How does the Commission view the situation of ethnic and religious minorities in the EU candidate countries?

Are the cultural rights of minorities guaranteed in the EU candidate countries? Do their educational systems respect the right to education in one's mother tongue?

Will the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages serve as a point of reference for the accession negotiations?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2002)

The political Copenhagen criteria include the respect for and protection of minorities. The Luxembourg European Council (12 and 13 December 1997) recalled that compliance with the political criteria laid down in Copenhagen (21 and 22 June 1993) is a prerequisite for the opening of accession negotiations.

In assessing progress made by the candidate countries with regard to these criteria, the Commission devotes particular attention to the respect for, and the implementation of, the various principles laid down in the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. With the exception of Latvia and Turkey, all candidate countries have ratified this convention. It is to be noted that not all Member States have yet done so.

As of 1997, the Commission has regularly assessed progress made by the candidate countries in meeting the Copenhagen criteria, first in its 1997 Opinions, and subsequently in its Regular Reports. In November 2001 the Commission concluded in its Strategy Paper(1) that the Copenhagen political criteria continue to be met by all presently negotiating candidate countries. Turkey still does not meet these criteria.

The regular assessment of progress made by the candidate countries in meeting the requirements set by the Copenhagen political criteria has led to positive developments in all candidate countries, also as regards respect for minority rights and the protection of minorities. Estonia and Latvia, for example, have further progressed in the integration of non-citizens and continued to fulfil the Organisations for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) recommendations regarding citizenship and naturalisation; due care will need to be taken, however, to ensure that the implementation of existing language legislation takes place in full respect of international standards. Moreover Latvia is expected to fully align its election legislation to international standards in 2002. In Romania, new legislation extending the use of minority languages has been approved and in Slovakia significant efforts in further developing approaches to protect minority rights were taken.

As regards the Roma communities, discrimination in several candidate countries remains widespread and they continue to experience difficult living conditions. At the same time, a number of encouraging developments can be registered: in all candidate countries with sizeable Roma communities, national action plans to tackle these issues are now in place and in some countries national budgetary resources have been reinforced. PHARE funding in this context has been considerably increased.

The rights of religious minorities are largely respected in the negotiating countries and the governments do not restrict the observance of religious belief. In a few cases, new legislation on religious denomination is still pending.

The educational systems in these 12 candidate countries largely provide for education in the minority language e.g. in Estonia, the Law on Basic and Upper Secondary Schools also provides for continued teaching in Russian. Latvia supports education both in Latvian and Russian and in 8 other minority languages and implements a bilingual education program at the elementary school level in view of an eventual transition to Latvian-language secondary education. Other examples are Romania, where presently 5 % of educational units teach in a minority language or the Slovak Republic, which in June 2001 has ratified the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages.

(1) COM(2001) 700 final.