Strasbourg, 14.12.2016 – The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has just published its report on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Switzerland and recommendations to the authorities, together with the response from the Swiss Government. The report highlights recent positive developments concerning the Part III languages – Italian and Romansh. The Council of Europe experts welcomed the encouraging situation of Romansh in education and media. Read more

Strasbourg, 14.12.2016 – The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has just published a report on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in the Netherlands and recommendations to the authorities, together with the response from the Dutch Government. The report reflects several positive steps, in particular as regards the Frisian language. New developments have been noted in education, but additional efforts are needed to further strengthen the teaching of and in Frisian. Read more

Strasbourg, 29.04.2016 – The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has just published a report on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Serbia and recommendations to the authorities, together with the response from the Serbian Government. The importance of protecting national minorities and their languages is well recognised in Serbia which enjoys a rich linguistic diversity with 15 regional or minority languages. The following languages have been given special protection under the European Charter: Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Bunjevac, Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Macedonian, Romani, Romanian, Ruthenian, Slovak, Ukrainian and Vlach. Read more

Strasbourg, 29.04.2016 – The Council of Europe published a report on the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Slovakia, along with the comments of the Slovak authorities and the Committee of Ministers recommendations. The Charter, which entered into force in Slovakia in 2002, protects 10 languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Polish, Romani, Ruthenian, Ukrainian and Yiddish. The report notes that Slovakia recently adopted a Human Rights Strategy, and that an action plan concerning the rights of persons belonging to national minorities is being prepared. Read more

Strasbourg, 21.01.2016 - The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe today issued six recommendations to the Spanish authorities on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. It also published a Report by a committee of experts assessing Spain´s compliance with the Charter. Read more

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) was signed by France on 7 May 1999 but has not yet been ratified. In January 2014, the National Assembly adopted, with a large majority, a constitutional amendment permitting also the ratification of the treaty. The Senate will debate that proposed constitutional amendment on 27 October and on 3 November 2015. The approval by the Congress, the actual amendment of the Constitution and the actual ratification of the Charter are still pending. Read more

Strasbourg, 02.12.2015 – The Committee of Ministers today made public an evaluation report and recommendations on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages in Poland. Read more

Strasbourg, 02.12.2015 – The Council of Europe today called on the Czech Republic to step up its efforts to protect and promote minority languages, in particular German and Romani.
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers issued a number of recommendations to the Czech Republic based on an expert committee’s report which evaluates its compliance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
In the report, the committee highlights the existence of a well-developed general framework for the protection of national minorities in the country and acknowledges the existence of a special funding programme for the implementation of the Charter. Read more

Out of the 25 countries that have ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML), 15 have officially recognised Romani as a minority language traditionally present on their territory. This is the highest number of ratifications for a single language under the Charter and it reflects, among others, the status of Romani as a European language.
From the two options of ratification, general protection under Part II of the Charter or the definition of special provisions in support of a language under Part III, the majority, two-thirds of the countries, opted for general protection that automatically applies to all languages traditionally spoken on the territory of a state. Read more

Once every two years, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe has to present to the Parliamentary Assembly a detailed report on the application of the Charter. This ensures that the members of Europe’s parliaments are kept informed about the application of the Charter, enabling them to bring political pressure to bear, if necessary, to encourage national governments to take appropriate measures. More...