ECMI - Minority Party Regulations in EU28, Norway and Switzerland

The table provides a comparative perspective on the legislative measures for exempting national minority political parties from state/federal and/or local parliamentary thresholds in 30 European countries. The analysis reveals a conservative trend across Europe. Exemptions are in place in countries that have traditionally provided protection for national minorities after comprehensive post World War II inter-state settlements involving states and the respective minority kin-states (Italy-Austria and Germany-Denmark, as well as in Switzerland). Two of the countries, which signed specific Minority Treaties at the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I, have chosen to adopt exemption legislation after the Cold War (Poland and Romania). More...