European Voice: Minority groups must not be left to fall through the cracks of enlargement

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Subject: European Voice: Minority groups must not be left to fall through the cracks of enlargement

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European Voice:  Minority groups must not be left to fall
through the cracks of enlargement


Posted on www.eumap.org with the permission from the European Voice

© 2001 European Voice,
The Economist Group

Brussels, October 31, 2001

Minority groups must not be left to fall through the cracks of
enlargement

Candidate states must improve their treatment of minorities such as
the Roma if they are to meet the Copenhagen criteria, argue James A.
Goldston and Rachel Guglielmo

WITH the European Council set to conduct a 'deep review' of the
accession process at December's Laeken summit in Belgium, some are
calling for a slowdown of enlargement.

Instead, in this moment of post-11 September uncertainty, the EU
should reaffirm its commitment to enlargement as an expansion of not
just an economic area, but a community of democratic values.

The European Council took a decisive step at its 1993 Copenhagen
meeting when it established political criteria for accession.
"Stability of institutions guaranteeing human rights, democracy, rule
of law and respect for and protection of minorities" was a
precondition for opening negotiations.

Having first declared that candidate countries had met the political
criteria, the Commission has nonetheless regularly monitored their
compliance thereafter. 

Clearly, the Commission sees adherence to fundamental democratic
principles as a continuing responsibility of those states who wish to
form part of the European Union. 

In 2000 George Soros's Open Society Institute signalled its support
for this view by launching the EU Accession Monitoring Programme to
assess compliance with the political criteria in ten candidate states
of central and eastern Europe. The programme recently released reports
on two key issues: minority protection and judicial independence. The
reports, which were researched and drafted by non-governmental experts
from each of the candidate states, show that the Council's decision to
embed political criteria squarely within the accession framework has
sparked considerable progress. Most of the candidate states have
ratified the main international standards for minority protection and
have adopted new laws and policies to improve their situation. All
have put in place basic legal and constitutional guarantees of
judicial independence and have made efforts to improve the status of
judges.

However, the reports also describe significant problems. Persistent
and deeply-rooted negative public attitudes towards the Roma minority
in much of the region result in violence and discriminatory practices
in education, housing, access to health care and other public goods
and services.

For example, in the past three years, Roma deaths as a result of
violent attacks have been reported in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and
Slovakia. Roma complaints of police mistreatment, common in several
countries, regularly receive short shrift. Disproportionate numbers of
Roma children are segregated into 'special' schools, classes for the
'mentally retarded', or ethnically pure all-Roma schools.

It is rare that public officials condemn these practices. Indeed, on
the contrary, examples of anti-Roma expression by government figures
are all too common. 

In August 2000 a group of Roma fled their home village of Zamoly in
Hungary to seek asylum in France. One official accused them of "going
abroad to discredit Hungary [by] making groundless allegations against
the state and government". The mayor of a nearby town was more direct:

"The Roma of Zamoly have no place in this country. Just as in the
animal world, parasites must be expelled." Far from condemning these
statements, Prime Minister Viktor Orban exhorted Roma to "try to study
and work more". 

Elsewhere, large numbers of Russian-speakers in both Estonia and
Latvia still lack citizenship and restrictive legislation further
limits their right of access to political participation and to protect
and preserve their minority language and identity. 

At the same time, no candidate state has yet adopted comprehensive
anti-discrimination legislation, as required by the EU's race equality
directive. Throughout the accession region, a weak commitment to a
culture based on the rule of law engenders insufficient political and
institutional backing for an independent judiciary and repeated
executive interference in judicial administration. Judges are often
resistant to public and media scrutiny and to the establishment of
strong mechanisms to ensure judicial accountability. In short, the
reports reveal a reality that is not all that surprising: candidate
states struggle to match their actions with their aspirations. 

Examination of the accession process also suggests that, much as the
EU has done so far to support candidate states' efforts, it can do
more. Though a significant first step, the political criteria remain
quite vague. Clearer articulation of EU-wide standards for minority
protection and judicial independence would facilitate the efforts of
states to comply. It would also increase the effectiveness and
transparency of monitoring efforts, both by the Commission and civil
society groups. Second, the EU should make clear that these standards
apply to member states as well as candidate states, and that they
constitute an ongoing condition of membership. A permanent mechanism
should be established to monitor compliance with the political
criteria throughout the Union. Doing so now - before any candidate
state has been admitted - would enhance the credibility of the
accession process, by assuring candidate state governments that they
are not being singled out for a level of scrutiny which member states
are unwilling to submit.

Finally, the EU and governments of candidate states should more
actively involve representatives of civil society in the accession
process, including in the design, implementation and evaluation of
programmes. Independent monitoring of government performance is a
fundamental safeguard against abuse. Governments throughout Europe
stand to gain from being challenged - even provoked - by their
citizens into continually defining, defending, and embodying the
standards they espouse. 


James A. Goldston is deputy director of the Open Society Institute.

Rachel Guglielmo is director of OSI's European Union Accession
Monitoring Programme.

Visit European Voice on www.european-voice.com

Copyright © Eumap.org, 2001.

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