MERCATOR :: News

July 2004

CoE: LAST RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS ON HUNGARY, SWEDEN, SLOVENIA, DENMARK AND OTHERS

July 2004 – Several new recommendations and reports have been published in the last months within the framework of the monitoring of the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. As regards the Language Charter, the Council of Ministers has adopted several recommendations on its application in several states: the United Kingdom (24 March, as already reported by Mercator-Legislation; see previous news), Denmark (19 May), Slovenia (9 June) and Hungary (30 June). As for Denmark, the Council calls for the practical implementation of the Charter as regards German, especially in the fields of administration, justice and the media, and it reminds the possibility of applying the Charter on the Faroe Islands and on Greenland. Furthermore, Denmark issued its second periodical report on the Framework Convention on 14 May. As for Slovenia, the Council asks the authorities to reconsider its position towards the Croatian language, to clarify the issue of the traditional presence of the Serbian and Bosnian languages, to apply Part II of the Charter (Objectives and Principles) to the German language, and to engage in a process of development of Romany as a written language in close co-operation with the representatives of all the Roma communities present in Slovenia as well as with the other European States concerned. This last recommendation goes also for Hungary, which should also “improve the present model of teaching regional or minority languages”, “take further positive measures to encourage the use of minority languages in judicial proceedings and in dealings with the administration”, or “ strengthen the presence of minority languages in the media”. Both Slovenia and Hungary have also just submitted their second periodical reports on the Framework Convention (on 6 July and 5 May, respectively). In the case of Sweden, it released its second periodical report on the implementation of the Charter on 30 June. The report is divided in three parts, each one devoted to a language (Sami, Finnish and Meänkieli or Tornedal Finnish); as for the most important legal developments, Sweden highlights the adoption in December 1999 of the “Government Bill 1998/99:143 National Minorities”. This text can be found in Mercator-Legislation’s “Languages and Legislation” website section. Other reports and resolutions within the framework of the Framework Convention have also lately been issued concerning: Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy and Moldova.