Minority SafePack – One million signatures for diversity
The European Citizens’ Initiative “Minority SafePack” aims to promote the rights of national and linguistic minorities, ensure their protection at EU level and calls on the EU to use the tools at its disposal in this regard. Although the EU Treaty lists the respect for rights of persons belonging to minorities as an EU value, EU action and EU legal measures for protecting national and linguistic minorities are absent.
The Minority Safepack Initiative therefore is a package of law proposals for the safety of the national minorities, a set of EU legal acts that enable the promotion of minority rights, language rights, and the protection of their cultures. In short, it sums up the main objectives: safety for minorities and legislative package for minorities.
Latest Development:
On 15 October 2020 the public Hearing on the Minority SafePack Initiative in the European Parliament took place, where the Initiative got an overwhelmingly positive feedback.
On 27 November 2020, the German Bundestag adopted a resolution that calls on the European Commission to implement the citizens’ initiative. Loránt Vincze, President of FUEN and Member of the European Parliament welcomed the decision: “The unanimous adoption of the resolution by the German Bundestag, the Parliament of the largest EU Member State, sends a strong signal to the European Commission to adopt a package of legislative acts to protect national minorities at EU level. It recognizes the need for protection of 50 million Europeans belonging to national minorities and language groups”.
What happens next:
A supportive parliamentary resolution is currently being drafted in the European Parliament and is expected to be adopted on 14 December 2020.
The European Commission has to present its legal and political conclusions on the initiative and its follow-up on 15th of January 2021 the latest.
