The European Commission (EC) will not initiate a legislative process on the basis of proposals by Minority SafePack, a European citizens initiative to strengthen the rights of indigenous minorities. With its decision, the Commission has turned its back on not just the bloc s indigenous minorities, but also more than 1 million European signatories and the European Parliament, which supported the initiative with a decisive majority, as well as on several national governments and regions, an advocate of the initiative has said.

The Minority SafePack European Citizens Initiative has been supported by more than 1.1 million people, with the required number of signatures collected from 11 European countries. The initiative also enjoyed majority support in the European Parliament, as well as in many national parliaments.

The Minority SafePack team made proposals to the Brussels Board for the Protection of the Rights of Indigenous European Minorities in a total of nine areas – such as the protection of European minority languages, and ensuring more cohesion sources for regions inhabited by national minorities.

However, the European Commission has decided not to launch a legislative process based on the proposals.

„The EC rejected the request of those to  whom preserving Europe s linguistic and cultural heritage is not simply a slogan, but a daily challenge. The EC s position, which is a pat on the back, is not enough, as 1,123,422 signatories expected concrete measures and actions. In its response, the Commission has let down the EU s 50 million citizens belonging to national and linguistic minorities, with millions of people among them whose rights have been constantly violated in their own country. Now, the European Commission – which proclaims itself as the guardian of democracy, the rule of law, dignity and justice – turns its back on them,” said Minority SafePack co-initiator Lorant Vincze, MEP of the Romanian Democratic Alliance and the president of the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN).

According to the initiators, the European Commission s decision is flawed in several respects. It discredits the institution of the European Citizens Initiative, the only instrument of participatory democracy in Europe, by rejecting legislation on the fifth successful initiative. Instead of getting closer to the citizens, the EU is constantly ignoring their proposals, which can be described today as the EU s democracy deficit. However, the Commission neglects the European Parliament s co-legislative call, which was adopted by a three-quarters majority, and rejects the legislation despite the fact that a majority of all political groups in the EP had supported the initiative.

In its response to the initiative, the EC wrote that although the protection of minority rights is one of the core values of the European Union, the EU does not have exclusive remit to legislate in this area. Back in 2013, the European Commission rejected the Minority SafePack, arguing that it fundamentally affected rights within the member states remit. However, the latter was rejected by a ruling of the European Court of Justice in 2017, so the project could go on.

They also emphasised that the EU had imposed a number of measures to preserve Europe s cultural diversity, which appear sufficient when it comes to protecting minorities, such as the new strategic framework for the protection of the Roma, the recommendations of the Erasmus + programme for minority communities, and the EU s anti-racism action plan.

Within the European Commission, the system of citizens initiatives is liberal Vice President Vera Jourova s responsibility.

Responding to Ms Jourova s announcement, Balazs Hidveghi, an MEP of Hungary s ruling Fidesz party, said the commissioner had „made an outrageous and cynical decision.”

„Despite the 50 million EU citizens belonging to a national or linguistic minority, despite the request of 1,100,000 EU citizens addressed to Brussels to better protect national minorities, despite the required number of signatures obtained in 11 member states instead of the required 7, Vera Jourova – the Commissioner in charge – has swept the initiative off the table,” the MEP wrote on social media.

As a reminder, he added that today Ms Jourova, „who regularly delivers long, boring speeches about the rights of all existing sexual minorities and immigrant groups, dispatched Europe s indigenous national minorities with a single wave of the hand.”

However, let s not forget, it is also her, who regularly lectures the member states about democracy in a completely unacceptable way. In sum, today she also showed what people s opinions really mean to her.”