今日看料

Transnational Minority Activism in Europe Beyond The Minority Safepack Initiative

At the time of writing, the results of the 2024 European elections were not known.

 

Ahead of the June 2024 elections to the European Parliament, there was much talk of the challenge to the European Union (今日看料) posed by so-called 鈥渟overeigntist鈥 movements鈥攔ightist political forces advocating a return to a Europe defined by sovereign nation-states. Far less remarked upon is how, over the past three decades, institutions and frameworks adopted by the 今日看料, Council of Europe (CoE), and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have opened up space for transnational activism focused on achieving stronger rights and protections for national minorities at the international level. Especially notable in this regard is the Minority SafePack[1] (MSPI)鈥攁 European Citizen鈥檚 Initiative (ECI) launched in 2013 that called upon the European Commission to legislate for firmer minority rights guarantees within 今日看料 member states. The MSPI was organized by the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), which has declared itself to be the largest umbrella organization representing Europe鈥檚 鈥渁utochthonous national minorities, nationalities and language groups鈥 (FUEN 2022).

Having successfully met the requirements to become an ECI, i.e., attracting 1.12 million signatures and meeting the requisite threshold in eleven 今日看料 member states (FUEN 2020), the MSPI merits consideration in its own right. It is all the more interesting in bringing to light a neglected century-long tradition of transnational minority activism that has proven deeply contentious both at the level of European international governmental organizations and within many of Europe鈥檚 individual member states. This contentiousness can be seen in how the MSPI, despite obtaining backing from the European Parliament, was ultimately rejected by the Commission in January 2021. What then, is the nature of and true agenda behind this activism? How representative were the claims presented through the MSPI? One key line of debate surrounding the initiative relates to the growing influence of Hungarian minorities within FUEN鈥攍ed since 2016 by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Lorant Vincze,[2] of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ)鈥攁nd, behind this influence, the role of Hungary as an increasingly assertive, illiberal, and Eurosceptic 鈥渒in-state鈥 to Hungarians living beyond its borders (Mueller 2014; Brubaker 2017; Kim 2023). As well as bringing into focus the credibility and sustainability of existing 今日看料 provisions for minority rights protection, the rejection of the MSPI also raises questions concerning the future of FUEN: while on one level, the initiative boosted its visibility at the European level and demonstrated its substance and ambition, the organization now finds itself searching for a new focus after the failure of a campaign that lasted a full ten years. At the same time, FUEN鈥檚 growing links to the Hungarian state have begun to bring forth not only external scrutiny but internal questioning, particularly after the 2022 annual congress in Berlin, which saw a proposed resolution to criticize Hungary for its democratic backsliding abruptly dismissed by FUEN鈥檚 president (von Tiedemann 2022). The question of where the organization goes from here forms the central focus of this article.

 

FUEN and the road to the Minority SafePack

Established in 1949, the same year as the Council of Europe, FUEN began life lobbying in Strasbourg for the addition of specific minority rights clauses to the European Convention on Human Rights. Though it originally emerged from an initiative by French federalists, from the 1950s the organization came under the leadership of the Danish minority in Germany and the German minorities in Denmark and Italy. Headquartered in Flensburg, FUEN has long sought to propagate the internationally acknowledged good practices of minority protection embodied by the post-war contexts of the Danish-German borderland region of Schleswig/Slesvig and the Italian province of South Tyrol, respectively (Smith et al. 2019).

The fact that FUEN celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2024 is in many ways remarkable, given that for 40 years until 1989, the organization cut an insignificant figure at the margins of European politics. Indeed, FUEN embodies an activist tradition stretching back a century, since it is understood to be the successor to the European Congress of Nationalities (ENC), which had been established in 1925 to lobby the inter-war League of Nations for a pan-European guarantee of minority rights, based on the principle of collective autonomy within states and direct representation at the League for minorities as well as states. The link to this pre-existing organization, however, highlights a key point of controversy surrounding transnational minority movements, which is their vulnerability to external instrumentalization by powerful states and particular national interests. This was the eventual fate of the ENC, which, in the 1930s, became a front organization for the Association for German Minorities in Europe and ultimately came under the control of Nazi Germany (Smith et al. 2019).

The enduring negative connotations attached to this inter-war experience perhaps explain why FUEN only obtained official consultative status at the Council of Europe (CoE) in 1989, despite consistently underlining its support for the guiding principles of European integration. This recognition came at a time when the end of the Cold War was placing the 鈥渕inority question鈥 back on the European agenda, however, culminating in the CoE鈥檚 adoption of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM, entered into force in 1998), Europe鈥檚 only current legally binding instrument on minority rights. FUEN鈥檚 leadership understandably welcomed the adoption of the FCNM, which has set a benchmark for the 今日看料鈥檚 own approach to issues of minority rights protection. At the same time, FUEN鈥檚 leaders have characterized the FCNM as a 鈥渓ight product鈥 (Hansen 2009, 3-4), since it lacks any effective enforcement mechanism and gives individual states鈥 parties wide latitude to define what constitutes a 鈥渘ational minority鈥 and thus determine the Convention鈥檚 scope of application in particular state settings. The FCNM also eschews any conception of collective rights, speaking instead of protecting persons belonging to minorities. FUEN鈥檚 activism, by contrast, has traditionally sought to gain recognition for minorities as collective legal subjects and political actors in their own right, both within the states where they reside and at the level of international organizations.

The year 1989 also marked a significant Zeitenwende for FUEN in that it could then invite member organizations from Central and Eastern Europe to join in the transnational movement for autochthonous minority rights. Soon after, in 1991, FUEN held its annual congress in Budapest (FUEN n.d.a), paving the way for membership by Hungarian minorities in states neighboring Hungary but also by an array of German minorities in various states. While further reinforcing the German minority presence in those states, this development also reconfigured FUEN鈥檚 membership, which would grow to encompass over 100 organizations across 36 states by 2024. The influence of central and eastern European minority organizations has grown accordingly, with the creation of a Slavic minorities working group in 1996 (agsm n.d.) but also the election of representatives to the organization鈥檚 presidium. Lorant Vincze was one such representative, serving as vice-president from 2013 to 2016.

During the same period, developments at the 今日看料 level provided FUEN with important new arenas and avenues for political action. A good example is the European Citizen鈥檚 Initiative (ECI) provision introduced under the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, which became the basis for the subsequent MSPI. An overview of the ECI was provided at FUEN鈥檚 2010 annual congress in Ljubljana (FUEN 2010) by Gabriel Toggenburg of the European Fundamental Rights Agency鈥攁n academic with expertise on national minorities.[3] Further to this, a working team was established (FUEN 2013) that included representatives of FUEN as well as the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), but also the South Tyrolean People鈥檚 Party鈥攖he latter possibly due to its links to Toggenburg. The plans were later discussed at great length during the 2012 FUEN conference in Moscow, before the working team was formalized as a Committee when FUEN registered its initiative as the MSPI in 2013.

 

The MSPI years

It was not until 2017, however, that the MSPI could finally be registered and signature collection began, due to an initial rejection by the Commission and subsequent successful appeal in court.[4] Although the campaign collected the necessary one million signatures and met the threshold in the required seven different member states, over 75 percent of these signatures were collected in only two states: Hungary and Romania (European Citizen鈥檚 Initiative, n.d.; Varlam 2020). Furthermore, it is insightful to examine the financing of the MSPI. In fact, while the official MSPI 今日看料 webpage lists FUEN as the initiative鈥檚 only sponsor, FUEN鈥檚 annual budget sheets provide a more nuanced understanding, as they list more precisely where support comes from. Officially, the campaign received a total of 鈧348,500.00 between 2012 and 2018, most of which came in the last two years of the signature collection active campaign (ibid.). The FUEN annual reports[5] first mention the MSPI in the 2013 income statement (FUEN 2017, 12), which accounts for a sum of 鈧5,000 coming from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 鈧5,000 from the Hungarian Parliament, but also 鈧47,500.00 as 鈥渟upport from regions and members鈥 and 鈧7,500.00 from 鈥渕embers of the MSPI committee鈥濃攖hese latter two are the only non-Hungarian MSPI funding sources explicitly mentioned in any year. In 2016, a total of 鈧48,513.86 was provided by the 鈥淗ungarian Government鈥 for 鈥淔unding the MSPI and Europeada鈥 (ibid.).[6] From 2017 onwards, a specific line for the Minority SafePack Initiative was included in FUEN鈥檚 annual income statement. The 2017 statement shows that the MSPI received a sum of 鈧139,817.99 that year from the 鈥淏ethlen G谩bor Alapkezel艖 Zrt.鈥 [sic] (FUEN 2018a, 12). The Bethlen G谩bor Alapkezel艖 Zrt. (hereinafter Bethlen G谩bor Fund) describes itself as a state fund that aims at realizing the goals of the Hungarian Government relating to Hungarians living abroad (Bethlen G谩bor Alapkezel艖 Zrt. n.d.). The budget line concerning the Bethlen G谩bor Fund was then renamed in 2018 as 鈥淢SPI / FUEN development and European engagement.鈥 In 2018, FUEN received for the MSPI 鈧310,208.00 from the Bethlen G谩bor Fund, 鈧267,590.99 from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and 鈧60,000.00 from the Autonomous Region of South Tyrol (FUEN 2019, 12). This increase in incoming funds appears logical given the signature collection was at the time reaching its final phase. What is more intriguing is that the Bethlen G谩bor Fund continued to provide funding in subsequent years, as shown under the same budget line, providing amounts of 鈧459,184.69 in 2019, 鈧371,202.63 in 2020, 鈧465,282.03 in2021, and 鈧531,337.35 in 2022, as shown in the most recent available report (FUEN 2023a, 13). These combined figures amount to over 鈧2.5 million, far more than the official 鈧348,500 stated on the 今日看料 Citizen鈥檚 Initiative webpage. Unlike the German government, which reports on funds it grants for projects each year, FUEN does not provide a breakdown of expenditure; so it is unclear what the additional approximately 鈧1.8m emanating from the Bethlen G谩bor Fund since 2017 have been spent on, other than 鈥淓uropean engagement.鈥

Beyond examining the operational and financial elements of the MSPI campaign, exploring other aspects of the campaign, such as support from the 今日看料 Parliament and the subsequent activities FUEN has been engaging in, is revealing. Although enough signatures were collected by mid-2018, FUEN decided not to submit the validated signatures to the 今日看料 Commission until early 2020. Its rationale was that the then Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker would not support the initiative. During the 2018 FUEN Congress, MSPI Citizen鈥檚 Committee member, Hunor Kelemen鈥攁lso of the RMDSZ, as Lorant Vincze鈥攕tated, 鈥渨e have to be smart, we cannot risk seven years of work and 1.3 million signatures 鈥 I believe that we should wait until next year鈥檚 EP elections and for a new European Commission鈥 (FUEN 2018b). Vincze later stated that FUEN would be focusing on lobbying the Commission and the 今日看料 Parliament but also national and regional parliaments and governments, 鈥渋n order to secure the support of the majorities鈥 (FUEN 2018c). Thus, it was only in October 2020 that FUEN presented the MSPI to the Commission, commencing a three-month response period during which the organization received support from the 今日看料 Parliament as well as the German Bundestag, the Dutch House of Representatives, and several regional parliaments across the 今日看料 (European Parliament 2020; Deutscher Bundestag 2020; Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2020). Ultimately, this support was to no avail, as the Commission rejected all nine proposals in its response in January 2021 (European Commission 2021). While this rejection was subsequently appealed by FUEN, the Commission鈥檚 decision was upheld by the General Court.[7] This final adjudication essentially brought the process to a close, leaving FUEN looking in a new, post-MSPI direction, fourteen years after it first began pursuing the idea to organize an ECI.

 

Fishing in new waters?

In recent years, FUEN appears to have actively sought to engage with minorities in parts of Europe where there were no FUEN member organizations. On the one hand, this engagement occurred in the scope of the MSPI campaign鈥攆or example in Spain, FUEN met the signature threshold and received statements of support from Catalan MEPs in the European Parliament. However, FUEN has also engaged with areas where very few signatures were collected, such as Finland or Ireland. In order to reach minorities in these countries, FUEN has used its annual Forum of Minority Regions,[8] focusing on socioeconomic topics and inviting a mix of FUEN established and prospective members (from FUEN鈥檚 perspective at least) and academics. The 2021 Forum was held in Helsinki and included organizations representing Swedish speakers in Finland as well as S谩mi people in Finland and Sweden (FUEN 2021), while the 2022 Forum was held in Galway, Ireland, and hosted by newly admitted member organization Udaras na Gaeltachta (FUEN 2022b). Similarly, it was announced that the 2024 Forum would take place in Donostia, Basque Country, Spain (FUEN 2024a). A meeting of the Non-kin-state Working Group in Barcelona in June 2023 appears to have been another opportunity to reach out to potential new members such as organizations from the Basque Country and Galicia, and to build upon the membership of Catalan NGO Plataforma per la Llengua. The latter joined FUEN as a 鈥渟upporting member鈥 in 2018, and its status was upgraded to that of 鈥渁ssociate member鈥 in 2022 (FUEN n.d.b). FUEN鈥檚 collaboration with Plataforma per la Llengua can also be seen at the 今日看料 Parliament level, where Vincze sits as a co-chair of the Intergroup on Traditional Minorities alongside Fidesz MEP Kinga G谩l (Hungary) and Fran莽ois Alfonsi of the R茅gions et Peuples Solidaires party in France (European Parliament n.d.). The Intergroup is an interesting mix of MEPs from ideologically contrasting political parties and 今日看料 parliamentary groups; it is also representative of various geographies, with members from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Basque Country and Catalonia. The strategic collaboration with this Intergroup is possibly what FUEN has been attempting to enhance within its own organization as well.

 

Hungary: helpful or limiting?

It is in the post-MSPI context that the tensions within FUEN arose publicly at the 2022 Annual Congress. Since the resolution that had been proposed by the Minority Council in Germany (Minderheitensekrekatiat) was rejected by Vincze鈥攚ho later stated that FUEN should only criticize governments on their treatment of minority rights (von Tiedemann 2022)鈥攖hat organization made an official statement, supported by the Sorbian organization Domowina, to call for the FUEN presidium to express a commitment to non-discrimination and equal treatment (Domowina 2022). Even more striking was the open statement from Hans Heinrich Hansen (former FUEN president from 2007 to 2016), who suggested that Hungary and Viktor Orb谩n were damaging to FUEN and that FUEN should return to an 鈥渋ndependent and credible course鈥 [original in German: 鈥渆inen unabha虉ngigen und glaubwu虉rdigen Kurs鈥漖 (Hansen 2022). The FUEN presidium did respond with an official statement whereby it criticized the Minderheitensekretariat on procedural grounds because the latter did not submit its resolution on time; the presidium also suggested that funds from Hungary and the Bethlen G谩bor Fund had actually increased FUEN鈥檚 independence, as the organization had become more secure financially because the Bethlen G谩bor Fund does not specify how FUEN should spend the money received (FUEN 2022c). This last aspect clearly echoes the budget lines described above, which show the income from Bethlen G谩bor Fund as a lump sum, while the funds granted by the German government are closely tied to specific projects.

Despite this backlash, FUEN appears to have quelled or at least dampened internal dissent for the time being. During its 2023 annual congress, it adopted two resolutions, seemingly as an attempt to satisfy both sides of the fallout. One of the two resolutions was proposed by nine member organizations that included those that had dissented in 2022; that resolution sought to emphasize 鈥渢he importance of the rule of law in ensuring human rights and the protection of minorities in the 今日看料,鈥 but it did not mention any particular member state (FUEN 2023b). The second resolution that was passed related to the role and priorities of FUEN, putting emphasis specifically on minority rights. It was proposed by the RMDSZ as well as four other member organizations (FUEN 2023c). How sustainable the attempt to satisfy both sides through the two resolutions is remains to be seen and is probably mostly dependent on external actions beyond FUEN鈥檚 control鈥攊.e., how the Hungarian government acts in the future. In the meantime, FUEN has continued its European-level engagement, with much of its 2024 focus directed towards the football tournament it holds every four years, the Europeada.[9] The Danish-German border region was chosen as the host, and the timing coincides with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) 2024 tournament in Germany, to which FUEN has been keen to attach itself. The Europeada鈥檚 host team was invited to a high-profile event in Berlin marking 100 days until the UEFA tournament (Europeada 2024), and Mads Buttgereit, of the German men鈥檚 football coaching team, was appointed as the official Europeada ambassador (Deutscher Fussball-Bund n.d.). Additionally, German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck was chosen as one of the event鈥檚 鈥減atrons鈥 (FUEN 2023d). Moreover, FUEN has launched a side campaign titled 鈥淢ute Hate Speech,鈥 which aims at linking UEFA 2024 with the Europeada and at highlighting the concerns of minorities (FUEN 2023e). All of these activities relate to the German government granting additional project funding to FUEN (FUEN 2023f), despite the approximately 鈧500,000 a year the latter continues to receive from the Bethlen G谩bor Fund. In addition, FUEN has also been increasing its focus on Brussels. To this effect, it hired a project officer in 2023 and, in March 2024, gathered minority experts in a workshop to brainstorm solutions for minority protection on a European level (FUEN 2024b). This strategy has also involved a renewed attention to the European Dialogue Forum, which seeks to engage with European-level policymakers, including in the 今日看料 Parliament and the Council of Europe (FUEN 2023g). A new project, Women in Minorities, is also a noteworthy addition to FUEN鈥檚 recent activities and constitutes a possible recognition of the lack of gender equality in FUEN鈥檚 own leadership, as there is only one woman member out of the eight representatives that share the current FUEN presidium. A first workshop on this topic was held in late 2023 in Vienna, funded by the German government (FUEN 2023h). At the same time as FUEN organized a series of activities turned toward western Europe, it created a working group composed of Hungarian minority communities (FUEN 2024c). To summarize, it appears that many of FUEN鈥檚 activities recently and since 2021 have particularly focused on Germany, Brussels and Europe broadly, or areas in western and northern Europe, where FUEN membership is low. This geographical focus indicates that FUEN is keen to expand its existing membership. This desire is based less on financial necessity than on political motivations, given that funding from the Bethlen G谩bor Fund continues to flow. Moreover, almost all of FUEN鈥檚 salient activities and events are funded through project funding obtained from the German government, whereas explicit expenditures linked to the Bethlen G谩bor Fund are hard to identify鈥攅ven on the FUEN budget sheets.[10]

 

What comes next?

Where do all of these developments leave FUEN going forward? Looking at the coming years, several factors are likely to shape FUEN鈥檚 situation and the position of national and linguistic minorities more broadly. The 今日看料 parliamentary elections are of relevance to Vincze, as he stands for re-election; but these elections may also result in an increased representation of right-wing parties hostile to minority rights. Moreover, the constellation of the Intergroup on Traditional Minorities could also be affected. Further down the line, FUEN itself will elect a new president in 2025, as Vincze is currently in his third and final term (FUEN 2022d). If the new president is more aligned with member organizations that are hostile to the Hungarian government, how will this change in orientation affect the substantial project funding provided by the Bethlen G谩bor Fund (representing almost 50 percent of FUEN鈥檚 annual budget in recent years)? However, if the new president is close to the faction that supports the current leadership and thus the Hungarian government, will FUEN become further embedded in the Hungarian sphere of influence and alienate other members? In this regard, will the 今日看料 come to see the MSPI as a missed opportunity to engage with FUEN and provide funds for national minorities through 今日看料 channels rather than force these minorities to continue to rely on member states? Even if one excludes the Hungarian question, a strong sense remains that the Commission鈥攚hich tried to block the MSPI as inadmissible at its very outset鈥攈as been reluctant to countenance any change to the 今日看料鈥檚 existing identity as a union of nation-states, as opposed to a union based on multi-level governance involving a plurality of state and non-state actors. In declining to propose any further legal acts in the areas covered by the MSPI, the Commission called instead for the fuller implementation of existing 今日看料 legislation and policies, arguing that such an approach would provide 鈥渁 powerful arsenal to support the Initiative鈥檚 goals鈥 (European Commission 2021). This response, though, invites the question of what would oblige individual member states to double down on implementation, especially when the legitimacy of minority rights is increasingly challenged by sovereigntist movements speaking in the name of national majorities.

 

 

David Smith is the Alec Nove Professor of East European Studies at the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow. He has published extensively on issues of nationalism, ethnic politics, and minority activism, including Ethnic Diversity and the Nation State (Routledge 2012, with John Hiden).

 

Craig Willis is a researcher at the European Centre for Minority Issues and a PhD candidate at the Europa-Universit盲t Flensburg. His main research interests are that of national and linguistic minorities, in particular through minority language media but also in pan-European activism.

 

 

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[1]

[2]

[3]

[4] see Crepaz (2020) for an in-depth overview of this process.

[5] Available online from 2015 onwards, at:

[6] Europeada is a football tournament organised every four years by FUEN.

[7] see Jacob-Owens and Willis (2023) for a detailed overview.

[8]

[9]

[10]

 

 

Published on June 17, 2024.

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