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The official celebration of 60 years Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations took place in the Representation of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein in Berlin. In the presence of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Denmark and Germany, Mr Lidegaard and Mr Steinmeier, the Prime Minister of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein Torsten Albig told 150 guests that according to him, "60 Years of Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations are no reason for Schleswig-Holstein to relax our efforts. They should inspire us to make things much better even, for example with our own language policy. We want to make the languages of our minorities more visible in the public space".
Steinmeier underlined the importance of the minorities and the preservation of diversity, which contributes to the success of a nation: “The centre for international minority issues, with ECMI and FUEN is in Flensburg. We want to use their expertise in our foreign policy.“Also Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard praised the work of FUEN: “We think that it is a really good idea to strengthen this work. For example by establishing the House of Minorities in Flensburg which will function as a point of contact for minority related issues.
With FUEN President Hans Heinrich Hansen and other representatives of FUEN in the audience, Albig told that Schleswig-Holstein is proud that it has in the town of Flensburg two institution of international importance, which make the ideas behind the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations into reality: the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) and the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI); "both institutions and their actions are needed, far beyond the German-Danish border region”, according to the Prime Minister.
Press release by Prime Minister Albig (in German)
