January 2006

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CoE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY DEBATES ON THE CONCEPT OF ‘NATION’

January 2006 - “Everyone should be free to define themselves as a member of a cultural “nation”, irrespective of their citizenship”, the CoE Parliamentary Assembly said following a debate on “the concept of nation”, based on a report by the Romanian MP György Frunda.

During the debate held in Strasbourg the 26th January, the Assembly debated on the concept of ‘nation’ and admitted that historically this notion had been often used demagogically to put people against people and nations against nations and to make citizens of the same countries citizens of the first or second degree. After the debate, the Assembly approved a recommendation for the Committee of Ministers.

In the text of the recommendation, the Assembly invited the member states not yet having done so to sign and ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as well as the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the European Charter of Local Self-government, which are “fundamental instruments for maintaining the national identity of national minorities or communities, and step up its efforts in this respect”. The recommendation also urged member states to promote in their national legislation the recognition of the cultural rights of minorities, inter alia on the basis of Recommendation 43 (1998) on territorial autonomy and national minorities and Recommendation 70 (1999) on local law/special status of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

The Assembly concluded that, based upon its Recommendation 1623 (2003) on rights of national minorities, the Committee of Ministers should "take the necessary measures to continue co-operation with the European Union, with a view to achieving common policies in the field of the protection of national minorities”.