MINELRES: Conference: Minority Protection and the EU - January 2004

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Asanger Robert <Robert.Asanger@eurac.edu> 


INVITATION 

With this email we would like to inform you about the the upcoming
conference on "Minority Protection and the EU. The Way Forward" which
will take place 30 and 31 January 2004 at the European Academy
Bolzano/Bozen. Participation is free. 



HOW TO REGISTER

Participation in the conference is free. However, space is limited.
Please do, therefore, register in due time � at the latest, before the
end of December via email, phone or fax:

Mr. Robert Asanger

Tel: 0039 0471 055 201

Fax: 0039 0471 055 099

Email: Robert.Asanger@eurac.edu



LINKS

CONFERENCE WEBSITE: http://www.eurac.edu/Org/Minorities/workshop.htm 
HOTEL BOOKING:  http://www.sudtirol.com/bolzano/ 
CONVENTION CENTRE:      http://convention.eurac.edu/index_en 
EURAC:  http://www.eurac.edu 
LGI:    http://lgi.osi.hu/ 
PACKAGE for EUROPE:    
http://www.eurac.edu/Press/Publications/package.asp 



THE TASK

At the end of January 2004 - that is, four months before Eastern
Enlargement becomes a fait accompli - a dozen experts in the area of
European integration and minority protection will present their ideas in
the capital of South Tyrol about how the enlarged Union should approach
the countless minorities living on its substantially enlarged territory. 

The �respect for and protection of minorities� has been one of the
prominent EU-imposed Copenhagen criteria which the candidate countries
have had to fulfill in the last decade. Various pre-accession
instruments have served to streamline candidates' attitude vis-a-vis
their minorities. In the EU�s internal sphere, however, this topic has
remained very much a non-topic. Will minority protection vanish from the
EU-scene once the candidate states acquire full EU membership? 

This conference brings experts, NGO representatives and politicians
together in order to raise and discuss the question of how the
importance of the integration and protection of minorities (which is
acknowledged at the political level) could be transformed into concrete
legal instruments inside the framework of the newly-enlarged and
re-designed European Union. 



THE PROGRAMME

Friday, 30 January 2004 
09:15 
Registration and Welcome 

10:00 � 10:30 
Rachel Guglielmo, The OSI reports � assessing the needs of minority
groups 
10:30-10:45 
Discussant 

10:45-11:15 
Gwendolyn Sasse, Assessing the European Commission�s monitoring exercise 
11:15-11:30 
Discussant 

11-30-12:30 
Discussion in Plenum 

12:30-14:30 
Lunch break 

14:30-15:00 
Frank Hoffmeister, How and if to substitute the monitoring process
vis-a-vis the candidate states with a new internal EU policy.

15:00-15:15 
Discussant 

15:15-16:00 
Discussion in Plenum 

16:00-16:30 
coffee break 

16:30-17:00 
Michl Ebner, Language policy as substitute for a minority policy? The
Parliament�s position as outlined in the Ebner report.

17:00-17:15 
Discussant 

17:15-18:00 
Discussion in Plenum 




19.00 dinner 

Saturday, 31 January 2004 

09:00-09:30 

Bruno de Witte, Where and how can a minority-policy be accommodated
within the multilayered EU system?

09:30-09:45

Discussant

09:45-10:30

Discussion in Plenum 

10:30-11:00 
coffee break 

11:00- 11:30 
Steve Peers, �New minorities� � what future status for Third Country
Nationals in the EU system? 
11:30-11:45 
Discussant 

11:45-12:30 
Discussion in plenum 

12:30 -14:30 
lunch break 



14:30-15:00 

Rainer Hofmann, The enlarged EU and the Council of Europe: the transfer
of standards and the quest for future cooperation 

15:00-15:15

Discussant

15:15-16:00 
Discussion in Plenum 

16:00-16:30 
Coffee break 

16:30-17:00 

John Packer, The enlarged EU and the OSCE: models of future cooperation
in the protection of minorities 

17:00-17:15

Discussant

17:15-18:00

Discussion in Plenum