Federal Union of European Nationalities

EU Legislative Interests

FUEN represents the interests of the European minorities on regional, national and European level. FUEN works together with the EU, the CoE, the OSCE, the United Nations and other stakeholders within the field of the European minorities. FUEN holds participatory status at the CoE. Within the framework of the EU, FUEN is a partner of the European Parliament Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, is in close contacts with the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission’s DG on Education, Youth, Sports, and Culture and the DG Justice and Consumers. FUEN’s European Dialogue Forum is responsible for the political dialogue with the EU institutions, particularly with the EP, and other international organisations – the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. FUEN was the main organisation behind the Minority SafePack Initiative. The MSPI is a European citizens’ initiative that proposes to change European policy in regard to minority protection and the promotion of regional and minority languages. The MSPI can be described as the most significant action for the protection of national minorities in recent decades: In an unprecedented solidarity action, from 04/2017- 04/2018, 1,123,422 signatures were collected for diversity in Europe and validated by the competent national authorities. The signatures were officially submitted to the EC on 10.1.2020. FUEN commissioned a team of legal experts to prepare a package of legislative proposals, which were submitted to the EC early February 2020. The drafts on language, education and culture, including a centre for linguistic diversity, regional policy, equality and statelessness, and audiovisual media content, are the basis for further lobbying and for the hearing in the EP. On 17.12.2020, a large majority in the EP with 543 votes out of 694 voted in favour of adopting the resolution. This makes the MSPI the first ECI on the basis of which a plenary debate was convened and a resolution adopted by the EP. On 15.1.2021, the EC announced its Communication with its policy and legal conclusions on the MSPI and announced that it will not propose any concrete legislative proposals on the MSPI demands. On 24.3.2021 the MSPI Citizens’ Committee filed at the General Court of the European Union a request for the annulment of the EC’s decision on the initiative. On 9.11.2022 the General Court of the EU delivered the judgment in the case of the MSPI vs the European Commission, stating that the EC proceeded correctly in refusing to propose legal acts based on the MSPI. The judgment was appealed on 23.1.2023. In addition, lobbying and public relations work for this initiative continue through meetings with decision-makers. The aim is to continue to raise the concerns of national minorities in the EU. On the European Day of Languages in September 2023, FUEN launched the collection of 65 dictionaries of minority languages for their permanent exhibition at the House of the European History in Brussels. The event was followed by the debate between speakers from the European Commission, EP and respective NGOs on the best European policy solutions for preserving the linguistic diversity across the EU and its neighborhood. On 4-5.03.2024 FUEN organized the high-level expert conference in Brussels on the ways forward for the new minority protection regime in Europe. 40 experts in the field of minority protection came together to analyse the current state of affairs and to discuss possible new steps towards better protection and promotion of minorities. Noteworthy was FUEN's previous involvement in the European Language Equality project of the ECSPM that aims to produce language reports on language technologies and digital support for languages in Europe. The EC will use these language reports for policymaking to decide on financial support. FUEN supports inter alia projects in communicating with smaller language communities in Europe, fostering participation of minority women and combatting hate speech.

Communication Activities

FUEN calls in various publications and events for the EU to implement legislation that would protect and promote minority rights. The aim of the European Dialogue Forum (EDF) is to assist FUEN in representing the interests of Europe’s autochthonous, traditional, national, and linguistic minorities in dialogue with the decisionmakers in Europe. The EDF serves as a platform within FUEN to ensure that special attention is devoted to advocating the interests of our Member Organisations towards European and international (such as the UN, CoE, and OSCE) institutions focusing on minority rights. Each year, the FUEN organises the FUEN Congress and the Assembly of Delegates with different discussion panels and expert talks which also addresses the EU’s responsibility to implement legislation on minority rights which FUEN and its members call for. During the Assembly of Delegates FUEN passes resolutions on issues that directly affect their members and minority communities each year. Resolutions passed in 2025 that directly address EU institutions are: Resolution 2025-02 on Linguistic Choice in the Spanish Justice System Resolution 2025-07 on the Return of the Meshkhetian Turks and the Strengthening of Georgia’s European Integration All FUEN Congress resolutions can be found here: https://fuen.org/en/article/Congress-resolutions At the FUEN Forum of Minority Regions 2025 taking place 27./28.06.2025 in Novi Sad, Serbia, a conference panel discussed ”Integration perspectives – the role of minority communities in the EU accession process”. The FUEN published their FUEN 2024 EU Election Manifesto before the European elections.https://fuen.org/assets/upload/editor/docs/doc_M4TGEi1T_FUEN_Manifesto_EN.pdf The FUTURE MANIFESTO is a result paper of the European minorities to be presented at the conference “The Cultural and Linguistic Diversity of Europe – Models and Challenges” within the framework of the “Conference on the Future of Europe” on 28 march 2022 in Flensburg/Flensborg, Germany and was handed over to the European Commission. https://fuen.org/assets/upload/editor/docs/doc_XLFv8jyK_COFOE_Future_Manifesto.pdf There are several publications on the Minority Safepack Initative by FUEN: 1,128,385 Reasons for Minority Protection in the EU https://fuen.org/assets/upload/editor/docs/doc_p3d1QNLu_MSPI_2019.pdf Minority Safepack Initative Flyer https://fuen.org/assets/upload/editor/MSPI-Flyer-EN-mit-aufkleber_260215.pdf Pact between minority and majority https://fuen.org/assets/upload/editor/docs/doc_CHTUyDqT_Pact_EN.pdf Legislative proposals https://fuen.org/assets/upload/editor/docs/doc_iR4huwGd_MSPI_Booklet_A4_v3.pdf Moreover, FUEN informs its members and the public about minority issues and their relation to EU positions and legislation on a regular basis on their website and social media channels.

Interests Represented

Does not represent commercial interests

Member Of

-Member of CoNGO (Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN) http://ngocongo.org/member-organizations -Participatory Status with the Council of Europe -Member of the ECSPM (https://ecspm.org/organisational-structure/members/) -Member of "Minderheiten-Kompetenz-Netzwerk e. V." ( https://www.minority-network.org/mitglieder)

Organisation Members

a list of all our member organisations can be found here: https://fuen.org/en/members