[Official version in English]

COUNCIL OF EUROPE
COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Recommendation RecChL(2004)4
of the Committee of Ministers
on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
by Hungary

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 30 June 2004 at the 890th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

The Committee of Ministers,
In accordance with Article 16 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages;

Having regard to the instrument of ratification submitted by Hungary on 26 April 1995;

Having taken note of the evaluation made by the Committee of Experts on the Charter with respect to the application of the Charter by Hungary;

Having taken note of the comments made by the Hungarian authorities on the contents of the Committee of Experts' report;

Bearing in mind that this evaluation is based on information submitted by Hungary in its second periodical report, supplementary information given by the Hungarian authorities, information submitted by bodies and associations legally established in Hungary and the information obtained by the Committee of Experts during its “on-the-spot” visit,

Recommends that the Republic of Hungary take account of all the observations of the Cmomittee of Experts and, as a matter of priority:

1. Ensure that the necessary integration of Romany and Beas speakers which would allow their full participation in the economic, social and political life, also preserves their linguistic and cultural identity;
strengthen the teaching of Romany and Beas at least at lower grades and contribute to the development of Romany as a written language, in particular through standardisation at European level.

2. Improve the present model of teaching regional or minority languages and move to forms of bilingual education for Part III languages and incorporate the current model of secondary language education into the curriculum for Part II languages.

3. Identify the territories in which the number of speakers justifies the effective implementation of Articles 9 and 10 and take further positive measures to encourage the use of minority languages in judicial proceedings and in dealings with the administration.

4. Strengthen the presence of minority languages in the media and, in particular, ensure that programmes in minority languages can be received on ordinary radio sets.

5. Continue to develop the system of minority self-governments, in particular by improving the conditions for the transferral of educational and cultural bodies and institutions to minority self-governments.