Europeanization and Democratization - CIRES

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rights records, membership of the Council of Europe began to lose its
prestige. Furthermore, the ratings Romania received from human rights
independent monitors such as Freedom House would place it near the
bottom of the European league until well into late 1990s.
The goal of EU membership also prompted the Romanian government to
sign major Council of Europe conventions. These conventions included the
important European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms with its ten additional protocols.
The efforts to support minorities rights in Central and Eastern Europe have
received a consistent support through the EU initiated ``Stability Pact`` in
1993. The consolidation of borders and support for minorities rights in
Eastern Europe were to be secured by the signing of a system of bilateral
treaties of friendship and good neighbourliness. EU assistance programmes
like the PHARE Democracy have been used to reinforce the Stability Pact
with financial incentive. In this context, after intensive negotiations, Romania
has signed in 1997 a ``Base Treaty`` with Hungary which contains many
provisions regarding the protection of the Hungarian minority.
Romania also signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages on July 1995, however, the Education Law released in the same
year has been received with fierce criticism by the representatives of the
Hungarian minority which considered it as being harmful to mother tongue
education.
Among the Education Law articles under heavy criticism was Article 120(2)
which stated that, “in junior secondary schools, the history of Romanians and
the geography of Romania shall be taught in Romanian on the basis of