Minority SafePack
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Minority SafePack — one million signatures for diversity in Europe is an ongoing European Citizens' Initiative on minority rights in the EU, sponsored by FUEN.
Content
The proposals registered by the European Commission were summarised as follows (by the initiators[1])
- EU Recommendation for the protection and promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity
- Funding programmes for small linguistic communities,
- The creation of a Language Diversity Centre
- The objectives of EU’s regional development funds to include the protection of national minorities and the promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity
- Research about the added value of minorities to our societies and Europe
- Approximating equality for stateless minorities e.g. Roma
- A single European copyright law, so that services and broadcast can be enjoyed in the mother tongue
- Freedom of service and reception of audio-visual content in the minority regions
- Block exemption of regional (state) support for minority culture, media and cultural heritage conservation.
The proposals rejected by the European Commission were:[2]
- A Council directive, regulation or decision on the basis of Article 20(2) TFEU and Article 25 TFEU, for the purpose of strengthening within the EU the place of citizens belonging to a national minority, with the aim of ensuring that their legitimate concerns are taken into consideration in the election of Members of the European Parliament;
- Effective measures to address discrimination and to promote equal treatment, including for national minorities, in particular through a revision of the existing Council directives on the subject of equal treatment, on the basis of Article 19(1) TFEU.
Litigation
The European Commission has initially refused to register the initiative, in 2013. The authors (who include Hunor Kelemen, Anke Spoorendonk, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Luis Durnwalder and Valentin Inzko) have appealed the refusal in court, where they were joined by Hungary and the Commission - by Slovakia and Romania. The General Court has annulled the Commission decision in February, 2017.[3] In March, 2017, the Commission decided to launch collection of signatures for 9 of 11 proposals initially included in the initiative.[4]
Collection of signatures
Collection of signatures (both online and offline) began in April 2017, and will continue until April 3, 2018.
The initiative has been supported by the Basque Parliament[5] and the Parliament of Navarre[6]; an invitation to sign it was published at the web portal of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.[7] As reported in English by FUEN, it has also been supported by the President of the European Parliament[8] and the Hungarian Parliament[9].
As at March 24, 2018, the initiative has been supported online by over 575,000 EU citizens (the unionwide threshold is 1,000,000). The necessary statewide threshold has been achieved by online signatures in six member states so far (Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Spain, Denmark and Slovakia), from at least seven necessary ones; in Croatia, 69 % of the threshold has been gathered online, in Lithuania, 62 %, in Austria, 54 %, in Slovenia, 45 %, in Italy, 42 %.[10]
As FUEN stated on 20 March 2018, the petition was already signed that time by over 900,000 EU citizens, counting both online and offline signatures. The threshold was said to have been reached in the necessary seven countries, namely Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Spain, Denmark, Slovakia and Croatia.[11]
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ Commission registers 'Minority Safepack' European Citizens' Initiative
- ^ Judgment of the General Court in Case T‑646/13
- ^ Commission registers 'Minority Safepack' European Citizens' Initiative
- ^ [2]Template:Es icon
- ^ [3]Template:Es icon
- ^ [4]Template:De icon
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ Minority SafePack – one million signatures for diversity in Europe
- ^ MINORITY SAFEPACK: THRESHOLD REACHED IN 7 COUNTRIES, 100 000 SIGNATURES STILL NEEDED - FUEN News, 20 March 2018.