Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel Glöckler | Anke Hassel ... - The Europaeum

democratic process. Even more so, bearing in mind the conflicting
relations between minority rights and national sovereignty – which have
played a major role in the weakness of the international body of minority
rights − it is the EU’s role as a supranational organisation to lead the way
towards the adoption of collective rights for minority groups. By taking a
position on the issue through the formulation of a minority policy, the EU
would contribute to the harmonisation of member states’ approaches to
minority rights.
The EU must develop coordinated and effective financial instruments
aimed at reducing the inequalities experienced by minorities in current
member states. While they are now EU citizens, many minorities in new
member states still face social exclusion and discrimination. In light of the
SFs, the effectiveness and coordination of EU financial instruments would
be increased if they were to be divided in policy areas (such as education,
political participation, employment, etc) rather than geographical zones.
Such reorganisation would ensure that financial aid reaches all minorities
in need throughout the EU. Equally, it would facilitate the creation of a
framework to measure and assess the effects of EU funding on the situation
of minorities. Last but not least, a mechanism must be provided for a
structured and systematic involvement of minority groups themselves in
all aspects – formulation, implementation and evaluation – of the EU
minority policy.
The economic and social aspects of cohesion need to be brought into a
much closer relationship with one another than has been customary in the
EU Cohesion Policy. It has been increasingly recognised that continued
economic development depends upon sustained social development as
well as a sustainable environment. More specifically, as illustrated by the
adoption of a “minority criterion” for EU membership in the last
enlargement process, one of the challenges facing the EU27 is to overcome
the economic and social exclusion of minorities. In any case, the EU will
not be able to sustain a policy of double standards with regards to minority
protection for much longer. In the words of Landau, “[T]he more groups
that are incorporated under EU auspices and the more diverse the EU
becomes, the more difficult it will be to ignore the gap between minority
rights rhetoric and state’s obligations to uphold minority rights”. 27
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