On Wednesday, 9 November 2022 the General Court of the European Union delivered its judgment in the case of the Minority SafePack Initiative vs the European Commission. The press release on the Court decision states that the EC proceeded correctly in refusing to propose legal acts based on the MSPI. According to the General Court, “the action already taken by the European Union to emphasise the importance of regional or minority languages and to promote cultural and linguistic diversity is sufficient to achieve the objectives of that initiative.”
„We are surprised by the decision of the General Court, which is not consequent with its earlier decisions on this matter. From our point of view, the quest for minority rights in the EU will continue regardless of today’s judgment. For now, we are waiting for the detailed reasoning of the Court, which we will analyse together with our lawyers, the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) and the Citizens’ Committee to decide what steps to follow. Appealing the judgment is a strong possibility at this point. In the meantime, FUEN will continue its work to protect and to promote the rich European linguistic and cultural diversity of the autochthonous national minorities and language groups and will find ways to implement the proposals, which benefit the minorities. We are already representing their interests in the stakeholder meetings, and the implementation of the MSPI is already underway in Germany, where it became part of the coalition government program. We will continue to lobby for its implementation in other member states as well” – said FUEN President and Member of the European Parliament Loránt Vincze following the delivery of the judgment.
Full statement here