- Basın Bildirileri
“The recent discriminatory measures and anti-minority events that took place in the United Kingdom, Romania and Ukraine confirm our conviction that there is a need for a European level guarantee for minority rights. The European Union needs to protect our communities and make sure the rights we do have cannot be taken away; as many people as possible need to sign the Minority SafePack Citizen’s Initiative.” – stated Loránt Vincze in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The FUEN delegation met with the Minority Intergroup of the European Parliament on Thursday to discuss the updates of the ongoing petition campaign. To stress the impact of the initiative the president of the organisation spoke about the specific, personal examples presented on the website of the initiative.
Vincze told MEPs that the petition campaign has already started in Transylvania and in Slovakia and that volunteers are soon to start going door-to-door to gather the necessary signatures. His last week visit to Croatia and Slovenia was also fruitful president of the FUEN said, and added that Hungary, Germany and Denmark are also actively engaged in this initiative. The petition campaign can be reached in every EU Member State, and people can sign online as well.
The Federal Union of European Nationalities called upon the Minority Intergroup of the European Parliament to help spread the message of the Minority SafePack Citizens' Initiative within the Parliament, and upon the MEPs to inform people and the media in their Member States, and to help in finding partners needed for the success of this initiative. Co-chair Nils Torvalds has assured the FUEN of his support for the Minority SafePack and several MEPs have announced that they will become actively engaged in the petition campaign.
The co-chairs have also stated that they will send a formal letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko urging him not to sign off on the recently adopted education law that curtails the rights of people belonging to a national minority in Ukraine to education in their mother tongue, as the new law is in contradiction with the country’s international commitments and goes against common European values. Nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian citizens belong to an ethnic or linguistic minority and the new education law is a deprivation of rights for all of them as it states that the official language of the state is the only language middle school and high school classes can be taught in – participants at the meeting stated. The FUEN also addressed a letter to the President of Ukraine asking him not to ratify the newly adopted law.
European protection for our rights! – Read more about the Minority SafePack Initiative, and sign the petition HERE.
