More and more people think in Europe, that further steps need to be taken to protect minorities at European level
MEP Csaba Sógor reports in an international publication about the legal situation and violations of the Hungarian minority in Romania. “Following the 2007 EU accession, we had high hopes, that as a member of the European Union, Romania would not afford to fail to comply with the promises made before accession in the protection of minorities. However, it seems that this is the case, so once again it is the EU’s turn to change the attitude of the Member States towards minorities”- stressed the RMDSZ MEP.
The Institute of Ethnic Groups in South Tyrol released an international publication in the honor of one of the most prominent European minority experts called Professor Christoph Pan, who celebrated his 80th birthday this Tuesday.
As a co-author of the publication, Csaba Sógor explained: since the EU accession, it seems that even the implementation of an existing law is obstructed. In many cases, the existing laws are not applied at all. This is also the case of the educational law and the church properties nationalized in the communist era.
Csaba Sógor stressed out: the Council of Europe also deals with this problem again and again. Newer reports are being issued, because existing solutions are no longer sufficient. At the same time, the European Union is also beginning to admit that it is no longer possible to wipe this question under the carpet, because the problems will not solve themselves. The MEP also highlighted, that among all EU Institutions, the European Parliament is the most concerned about the protection of national minorities. He also reported on the work that has been done in the European Parliament’s 2014-2019 cycle. “We have called on the Commission with a number of parliamentary reports and resolutions in order to create a common legal framework for the protection of minorities”- he explained.
According to the MEP from Transylvania, this process is strengthened by the Minority Safepack Initiative, which represents the will of 1.3 million European citizens. The next step should be to evaluate the practices of the Member States with the help of commonly laid down principles. The best solutions should be enhanced to influence the Member State to change attitude towards national minorities
