MINELRES: New publication: LGI & EURAC: Minority Protection and Enlarged EU

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Gabriel Von Toggenburg
<Gabriel.VonToggenburg@eurac.edu>


BRAND NEW KEY PUBLICATION

Minority Protection and the Enlarged European Union: The Way Forward 
Edited by Gabriel N. Toggenburg

Full text available also online
http://lgi.osi.hu/publications/default.asp?id=261
ISBN: 963-9419-53-2 


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Over the last decade the European Union has engaged and encouraged a
topic never before tabled on its agenda of concerns: the protection of
Europe's countless minorities. Strangely, minority rights was limited
only to minorities living outside the borders of the EU in the candidate
states then bidding for accession. Consequently, the Union soon was
confronted with the hypocrisy that it viewed minority rights as an idea
unfit for 'domestic consumption' and only appropriate for 'export.' 
Since the accession of ten new states to the EU on May 1, 2004, the
question is more urgent than ever. Many minority problems persist both
in Western and Eastern Europe, but does the EU want to develop a
minority policy within its enlarged borders or will it hesitate? How
will it do so? Does it have the right instruments? Can the EU make a
difference to minorities confronting discrimination often hand in hand
with missed opportunities?

So far the EU lacks an overall strategy or coherent policy for
addressing this dire need. The EU has to find its place in this new
policy area without overstretching its normative foundations and its
legal structure. Moreover, it is of utmost importance to develop a true
'European' strategy which finds an efficient 'division of labor' 
not only between states and the EU but also between the big
international players in Europe, namely the Council of Europe, the EU, 
nd the OSCE. In this indispensable volume on minority rights, a team of
eminent experts analyzes these critical questions, and, crucially,
provides a bundle of policy proposals that show the way forward for the
Union in a policy area that will gain in importance in the years to
come. 

CONTENTS:

- Gabriel N. Toggenburg: 
Minority Protection in a Supranational Context: Limits and Opportunities

- Rachel Guglielmo: 
Human Rights in the Accession Process: Roma and Muslims in an Enlarging
EU 

- Gwendolyn Sasse: 
Minority Rights and EU Enlargement: Normative Overstretch or Effective
Conditionality? 

- Frank Hoffmeister: 
Monitoring Minority Rights in the Enlarged European Union 

- Bruno de Witte: 
The Constitutional Resources for an EU Minority Protection Policy 

- Rainer Hofmann and Erik Friberg: 
The Enlarged EU and the Council of Europe: Transfer of Standards and the
Quest for Future Cooperation in Minority Protection

- Steve Peers: 
New Minorities: What Status for Third-Country Nationals in the EU
System?

- The Bolzano/Bozen Declaration on the Protection of Minorities in the
Enlarged European Union


REVIEWS:
"This volume constitutes an important and timely contribution to the 
question of whether, and how, the Union should take action in order 
to improve the protection of minority rights in Europe. Distinguished 
experts in the field have joined their efforts to offer answers, at a 
moment when the enlargement of the Union offers a unique opportunity 
to shed new light on this issue, and on the related issue of the 
coordination between the policies of the Union and the protection of 
minorities by the Member States and by the Council of Europe and the 
OSCE. The resulting collection of essays is truly compelling, and is 
an indispensable tool to anyone interested in the protection of 
fundamental rights in the Union or in minority rights."
Olivier De Schutter, Coordinator of the EU Network of Independent 
Experts in Fundamental Rights

"A straightforward, reasoned and consistent treatment of minorities 
within the European Union context has been overdue for some time. 
This compilation of informed and constructive essays provides a 
welcome policy-oriented contribution to what is an ever more pressing 
subject. Recent and continuing EU enlargement has only underlined the 
importance of managing minority-related issues in a peaceful and 
productive manner. The Bolzano/Bozen Declaration which accompanies 
these essays shows the way forward. Interested policy and law-makers, 
and all those affected by these matters, find here a useful, 
practical and achievable set of recommendations. Responsible 
politicians and officials should take these up in the new European 
public interest. If Europe is to continue to evolve and even to lead  
as a progressive open society composed of stable and prosperous 
democracies, it should follow the approach and programme offered 
herein."
John Packer, Former Director, Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on 
National Minorities


HOW TO ORDER:
http://lgi.osi.hu/publications_mailorder.php?id=254
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