Organized by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, the Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe and the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations the international conference ‘The promotion of national minorities by their ‘mother countries’ in Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th and 21st century’ will take place from 9-11 November 2016 in Berlin. More...

On Sunday 30 October, the FUEN Seminar of the Slavic Minorities that this year was organised at the Croat minority in Subotica, Serbia, was concluded. More...

The situation of the Crimean Tatars and the fears of the minorities living in Crimea were discussed, but also the developments in the field of language promotion. A particular important issue was the imminent assimilation and the future perspective for the Turkic minorities in Europe and in Central Asia.
Homepage of the Working Group of Turkic Minorities. More...

The idea of establishing a Forum of the European Minorities (FEM) emerged at a think-tank meeting that took place in Berlin in 2012 (funded by Denmark) and at this moment it is developed further.
A grant from the INTERREG-programme enables us, in our project “House of Minorities” that is following up on the ideas of 2013-2015, to show the abilities and qualities of the minorities as well as their diversity and to reap the benefits for the society as a whole. More...

The 10 to 12 million Roma, with European citizenship, are among the groups on our continent who are most marginalised. Many of them live under inhumane conditions.
FUEN is committed to be in solidarity with the Roma. As the largest umbrella organisation of the minorities in Europe, it can use the expertise of its members to the benefit of the participation of the Roma in all areas of public and political life. Minorities have proven social and intercultural skills, which makes them suited to act as mediators and bridge-builders. More...

FUEN is the umbrella organisation of the autochthonous, national minorities and ethnic groups in Europe:
Self-Conception
The autochthonous, national minorities / ethnic groups are the minorities that came into being as a result of developments in European history, as a result of change in borders and other historical events. The autochthonous, national minorities / ethnic groups are also the peoples of Europe who have never established a state of their own and who live as a minority in the territory of a state.
(from the FUEN Charter)
There are more than 400 European minorities in Europe. One in seven Europeans is part of an autochthonous minority or speaks a regional or minority language.
The needs and challenges of these 400 communities can be very heterogeneous. There are excellent models to achieve a balance between minorities and majorities in Europe. But there are also states that deny the existence of their autochthonous minorities.
The European minorities ask for more attention and influence in their regions, their states and on the European level.

Linguistic diversity
According to official numbers of the EU there are, apart from 24 official languages of the European Union, more than 60 regional and minority languages. Their total number of speakers is estimated at 40 million citizens. There are 90 languages in Europe; 37 of these are national languages, and 53 languages are regarded as “languages without a state”.
The EUROMOSAIC-study that was commissioned by the European Commission estimates that the critical number of speakers for survival of a language lies at 300,000 speakers.
One of the large languages without a state is Catalan, with circa 6 million speakers. Some language communities such as the Welsh, Basques, West Frisians, Bretons and some of the languages of Russia, like Bashkir and Chuvash, are above the critical threshold. Below this threshold, however, is the large majority of regional and minority languages, such as Ladin, Rhaeto-Romansh, Upper and Lower Sorbian, North Frisian and Kashubian.
According to UNESCO, half of the 6000 existing languages in the world are critically endangered. More...

Political and economic upheavals and wars in the last centuries have spurred migrations to and within Europe which have created societies that are rich in ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity. As a result, many minorities have been confronted with discrimination and even denial of citizenship. They have often been and are excluded from employment, housing, education and access to health services or justice. Many of them are under-represented in European governments and institutions which makes it difficult for them to find political redress to violations of their rights.
Protection of national minorities has always been on the Council of Europe’s agenda, but the issue acquired even more importance with the collapse of European communist regimes, extreme nationalism and conflicts in certain parts of Europe. More...

La Gazette européenne des langues, le bulletin d'information électronique du CELV, présente les actualités du Centre (événements, projets, ressources), de l'Unité des politiques linguistiques et d'autres secteurs pertinents du Conseil de l'Europe, ainsi que de nos partenaires.

Edition n° 33 (Septembre-Octobre 2016) : disponible en français et en anglais.

Développements à partir du 1er juillet 2016 relatifs à la mise en œuvre de la Convention-cadre pour la protection des minorités nationales en Autriche, République tchèque, Finlande, Hongrie, Italie, Lituanie, Norvège, à Saint-Marin et en Espagne : français – anglaisComité consultatif de la Convention-cadre pour la protection des minorités nationales – dixième rapport d'activité, couvrant la période du 1er juin 2014 au 31 mai 2016 : français – anglaisGérer la diversité à travers les droits des minorités : l’organe de suivi des minorités nationales du Conseil de l’Europe a publié un nouveau document d’orientation : français – anglaisPrésentation du quatrième commentaire thématique sur le champ d'application. Voir l'article...