The Impact of the Enlargement Process on the Development of a Minority Protection Policy within the EU: Another Aspect of Responsibility/Burden-Sharing?

Abstract

Several recent conflicts and tensions have underscored the importance of an adequate minority protection policy for purposes of stability, security and peace. Minority protection has become also a focus of the EU, albeit mostly in the external dimension. However, there is a lot to be said for the development of a more explicit minority policy at EU level for internal purposes. The requirement of and emphasis on decent minority protection by the candidate countries might very well become the triggering factor for the development of some kind of internal minority protection policy, not least because the actual enlargement will bring several substantial and marginalized minority groups within the EU. Prior to giving an overview of the current standards and principles pertaining to minority protection, I will present my arguments on why minority protection in the Member States of the EU is important for the success of the broader European integration project and in what way responsibility sharing in this respect could be conceived. Subsequently, an overview of the status quo in the EU concerning minority protection is sketched, which emphasizes the discrepancy in approach towards minority protection between the external and the internal level. Throughout this evaluation, calls for burden sharing in the sense of responsibility sharing are already formulated, against the background of the theoretical framework on minority protection and of the importance of minority protection within the EU for the European integration process. The latter arguments are further strengthened by equality considerations.