Die Minderheitenfrage in der Europäischen Union

Abstract

Despite the fact that there are about 191 minorities in the 27 member states of the European Union, protection of minorities is not a topic of EU Community Law. These issues are firmly placed in the hands of each of the member states, although under control of the Council of Europe, in which all EU members are members, too. Attempts toward a protection of minorities can be found within the EU's foreign policy, when approval of new founded states is linked to certain standards in minority rights as well as one of the Copenhagen Criteria for the admission of new member states includes special guarantees for minorities. In Community Law itself four topics in particular can be connected to the protection of minorities: As discrimination in general is prohibited due to art 12 of the EC Treaty, the Treaty of Amsterdam added special protection against discrimination for ethnical and religious reasons in art 13 of the EC Treaty. Several Directives of the Council were added. Secondly, the protection and support of language and culture can also be seen in a minority context, since the Charter of Fundamental Rights, although not legally binding, enlists variety of cultures among its central values. Furthermore, the protection of certain social groups according to the EU's employment policy and the process of regionalization can be seen as part of a beginning regulation of minorities in EU Community Law, although not as a separate topic due to national restraints among some member states. The Treaty of Lisbon offers two instruments, which may lead to a EU-based minority policy: The Charter of Fundamental Rights, as signed in 2001 will become legally binding and on the other hand special regulations on majority rules may offer new possibilities to overrule some member states reservations against EU-based protection of minorities.