ECMI MEU Programme

Minorities in the EU

The European Union is cautiously becoming a player in the European minority rights regime mainly through its soft governance programmes but also in its desire to seek constitutional consolidation. While there has been a strong realization in the European Parliament that minority issues could not be excluded from the European Union’s internal policies, the European Commission and the Council have been more reluctant to embrace these. This trend is now changing, not least as a result of the enlargement process over the last decade, but also due to the continued socio-economic exclusion of ethnic minorities and immigrant communities from mainstream society in both new and old member states as well as the increased xenophobic rhetoric across the Continent. These factors put a strong pressure on the European Union to improve its normative standards to include minority rights.

 
In 2004, the ECMI decided to become a resource on minority rights and issues in the enlarged European Union. Preliminary research identified several areas of concern that appeared related to the rights of ethnic and national minorities both in the socio-economic sphere and the political space of the Union. Three general policy areas were selected for the Programme’s future activities:

• The Lisbon Strategy, which focuses primarily on the socio-economic development of the European Union by 2010,
• The Cohesion Policy, which emphasizes territorial, political and social cohesion, especially at the regional level, and  
• Cross-Cutting Issues, which will focus on a variety of issues identified as relevant to the improvement of European Union minority governance. 

Early in 2004, the ECMI also conducted a small advisory project in support of the reunification efforts in Cyprus in collaboration with Cambridge University and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (see www.ecmi.de/rubrik/50/publications/).

When the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe emerged with a number of positive hints that minority issues were being put on the agenda in earnest, the ECMI decided to build on its 2004 efforts and research to strengthen its capacities through a programme titled, Minorities in the European Union or MEU Programme.

The Programme was launched in December 2005 with an evaluation project in support of the European Union’s Social Protection and Social Integration Policy titled, The Aspect of Culture in the Social Inclusion of Ethnic Minorities. The project evaluates the impact of inclusion policies under the Open Method of Co-ordination in six member states of the European Union and is financially supported by the European Commission. See www.ecmi-eu.org/projects/omc/. Other projects are in the pipeline.

 
The Programme is developed and directed by Dr. Tove H. Malloy.

 
Supported by:

European Commission

Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities

Carnegie Corporation of New York