FUEN: Programme

Congress Programme

Programme

18 May 2016 Arrival and Minority Market

20.00 hrs Minority Market – Official opening by FUEN President Hans Heinrich Hansen and High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors

19 May 2016 Opening of the Congress and Situation of Minorities in Poland

09.00 hrs Session I: Official opening with the High Commissioner on National Minorites of the OSCE Astrid Thors and cultural programme

1. Bernard Gaida, Chair of Verbandes deutscher Gesellschaften in Polen (VdG)

2. Hans Heinrich Hansen, President of the Federal Union of European

Nationalities (FUEN)

3. Astrid Thors, High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

4. Sebastian Chwałek, Vice Minister at the Polish Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw

5. Ryszard Galla, Vice Chair of the Sejm-Committee for National Minorities

6. Hartmut Koschyk, German Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities

7. Rafał Dutkiewicz, Mayor of the city of Wrocław / Breslau

12.00 hrs Lunch

13.30 hrs Session II: Poland and the challenges of the German Minority

1. Rafał Bartek, Co-Chair of the Joint Commission of the Polish Government and National Minorities – The situation of the minorities in Poland, an opening statement, examples of political participation

2. Bernard Gaida, Vorsitzender VdG – The condition of the German minority, 25 years after the German-Polish Agreements on Good Neighbourliness were signed

3. Prof Tomasz Wichierkiewicz – If protection is insufficient … The European instruments for language policy and endangered minority languages

4. Dr Aleksandra Oszmianska-Pagett – Member of the Committee of Experts for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe – The situation of the minorties and languages in Polen from the perspective of the Expert Committee of the Council of Europe

followed by Panel discussion with the minorities in Poland

Evening Recommended parts of the programme of the

Capital of Culture

20 May 2016 Quo vadis Europe? The multifaceted crisis of Europe

The crisis in Europe has many angles – the financial crisis was followed by the conflict in Ukraine and the refugees. What effect does that have on the autochthonous minorities? How can we contribute with our experiences and with our expertise? We want to discuss these questions together with you.

In a joint statement with YEN, the FUEN Presidium expressed its point of view about the relation of minority policy and refugee policy. It is the express wish of FUEN that its Members give their opinion and show their experience and expertise in conflict and crisis prevention and in the search for peaceful solutions: forming a common opinion on the renationalisation in Europe, the reinstatement of borders, of how we will live together in the future and the status of minority rights!

09:00 hr Introduction Olga Martens, FUEN Vice President

Topic I OSCE: Minorities as bridge-builders

Keynote speech by Joachim Bleicker, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commissioner for Relations with EU Member States and cross-border and regional cooperation: “The German 2016 OSCE Chairmanship and National Minorities as Bridge-Builders”

Discussion with the FUEN Member Organisations

Topic II The minority situation in Europe

Can enacting legislation for national minorities solve conflict or give rise to conflicts?

Hard cases – the reality of Europe

Situation in Ukraine – Panel discussion

Implementation of minority rights

Experiences and instruments of conflict management

Topic III Living together in Europe: Refugees and social integration

Keynote speech by Anna-Carin Öst, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Poland

Contributions, statements

Discussion with the FUEN Member Organisations

Conclusions