Albisteak
The Lisbon Treaty: extending linguistic and national minority rights?
The Lisbon Treaty, which amends the existing European Treaties, was finally ratified by all Member States and came into force on December 1st. It contains some clauses which are innovative and for the first time in primary EU law the term "minorities", and "national minorities" are recognised, along with the prohibition of discrimination against national minorities and languages.
The newly established European Parliament Intergroup for Traditional National Minorities, Constitutional Regions and Regional Languages will be in the position to take advantage of the new scenario created by the Lisbon Treaty and be aiming to test out to what extent the Treaty will have a real effect in the promotion of regional/stateless languages and national minorities.
The Intergroup will be co-chaired between Kinga Gal (EPP), a Hungarian MEP with a strong track record of working for national and linguistic minority rights, and Carl Haglund (ALDE), a Swedish-speaking Finn. The second half of the chairmanship of the Intergroup will be run by an MEP from the European Free Alliance in partnership with Csaba Tabajdi from the Socialist group. European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL) will act as the Secretariat.
In its last meeting in December the Intergroup, with EBLUL's briefing, discussed the impact of the Lisbon Treaty resulting in a joint statement. The Intergroup stated that it «looks forward to the development and implementation of autochthonous national minority and linguistic rights in the EU and its Member States». The group also mapped out its plan for the next five years where it will work formally with international organisations and use all the tools at the Parliament's disposal to implement rights and to help end discrimination against national minorities, stateless nations and their languages.
The Lisbon Treaty is innovative in that it refers to the «respect for the rights of persons belonging to minorities» (Arts 1.a), that the EU «shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity» (Art.2.3). In addition, the attached, and now binding, Charter of Fundamental Rights «prohibits any discrimination on any ground such as (…) language (...) membership of a national minority» (Art 21.1).
While the EU still lacks the comprehensive, binding national and linguistic minority system of protection needed, the Treaty does give grounds for appeal on all acts and legislation emanating from the EU, but not to domestic state legislation.
Organisations working on minority protection will themselves be exploring how Lisbon affects their rights. So far opinion remains varied, critics have pointed out that the Treaty has a strong pro-minority message but disappoints with weak policy relevance. Moreover, developments in national minority protection only confirm a growing legal reality, and that Lisbon does not add any self-standing policy instruments or clarifications that would help put pro-minority principles into practice. While Lisbon signals a positive impact on rights overall it does so without creating comprehensive protection.
It is that comprehensive protection for national minorities, stateless nations and their languages that will continue to be worked for by NGOs, international organisations and the Parliament's Intergroup.
Davyth A. Hicks
Editor-in-Chief, Eurolang, minority language agency
