Language Research

International and bilateral agreements signed by Romania can only partially substitute for the shortcomings of domestic legislation. Among the Council of Europe's documents on minority protection, The Framework Convention for the Protection National Minorities was signed on February 1, 1995, ratified on May 11, 1995 and enacted on February 1, 1998. Meanwhile, the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, signed by Romania in the same year (July 17), is still under way. The 1996 Romanian-Hungarian State Treaty lays down the rights needed to protect minority identity and the general principles of related state policies. It also validates additional international documents, such as the 1992 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the Copenhagen Document adopted by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and Recommendation No.1201 (1993) of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.

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Updated (June 2002)

The enlargement perspectives of the EU and NATO seem to have a positive effect for the adoption of European standards by the candidate countries. Romania is currently preparing the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The Council of Europe's Monitoring Committee recently announced that it might put an end to its mission in Romania. Initiated in 1997, according to Resolution 1123, the assistance of the Monitoring Committee was desirable in the fields related to national minorities especially Roma communities, to non-discrimination, as well as all forms of restitution of goods and property.

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was signed by Romania in 1995 and about 20 minority language communities are looking forward to its ratification.

The Romanian internal legislative and administrative framework, which regulates the use of regional or minority languages, already offers a relatively high level of engagement. Therefore, there is a possibility that the Charter will not satisfy the expectations of certain linguistic communities in Romania, for example Hungarians and Germans, who by tradition and thanks to their number have experience and therefore also the demand of much higher standards. On the other hand, the Charter could give a survival chance to certain endangered language communities, such as the Csangos and Ukrainians (Hutulas).

The question remains whether Romania's ratification is a sincere wish to protect the regional or minority languages, or it is a necessary gesture taken to be accepted to the EU and NATO.

Source: Eurolang, http://www.eurolang.net/, Brussels, May 27, 2002, by Emese Medgyesi

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Updated (February 2005)

ROMANIA SEEKS FURTHER NEGOTIATION WITH THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE BEFORE ECRML RATIFICATION

After two attempts with the former Government¹, the draft bill on ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is almost finalized and could be ratified by Romania this year. The Council of Europe (CoE) and Romania still have to find a solution on how to handle territorial issues before ratification by the Parliament.

The former Deputy State Secretary, now the State Secretary heading the National Minorities Protection Office, Attila Markó, admitted that originally they offered a wide range of rights to all minority language groups irrespective of their size. However, the experts sent from the Council or Europe explained them that they could not offer the same rights, for example in terms of education, to 1.5 million Hungarian speakers and a few thousand Albanians. Such a uniform approach cannot be applied to all twenty ethnic minorities in Romania because of the huge differences between them. While ethnic Hungarians still form the biggest ethnic minority in many localities and larger cities, there are very few Italian or Armenian speaking children living in the same area or intending to study in their mother tongue.

The recommendations of the CoE experts on making a selection and specifying which part of the ECRML could be offered to a particular language group had already been carried out by the Romanian experts so Part II of the Charter, with more general provisions, was offered to smaller language groups, while the more detailed provisions of Part III were recommended for the Hungarian speakers.

Another problem still to be solved is to define precisely in which territories or regions the Charter could be applied and then monitored. This task is quite difficult in Romania because its minorities are spread out over a relatively large territory².

One way how to overcome this territorial problem is to use an existing regulation stipulating that a language community is officially recognized in the area where its speakers constitute 20 percent of the population. However, what about the communities where minority language speakers comprise less than 20 percent of the population³?

Mr Markó hopes his office will finalize the text for ratification within a month and the CoE will agree on it this year. He believes that ratification by the Parliament will go smoothly because it is promised in the new Government program and the Hungarian RMDSZ is part of the ruling coalition.

Though ratification could bring about more regulations in detail, such as bilingual registering, more rights for speaking in one's mother tongue at court and using minority languages on product labelling, no drastic changes are expected. Several Romanian laws already offer more substantive rights for minorities than the Charter but they are not always implemented. Thus the CoE Charter monitoring process would certainly assure greater advantages for Romania's minority languages.

Source: Eurolang News, Kolozsvár/Cluj/Klausenburg, January 28, 2005, by Áron Balló, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4894

¹ The ratification was twice included into the agreement of co-operation between the former Romanian ruling party, the Social Democrat Party (PSD), and the umbrella organization of the ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR, RMDSZ). It was one of the conditions why this organization of Romania's biggest ethnic minority accepted to endorse the PSD in the Parliament between 2000 and 2004.

² More than half of the ethnic Hungarians live as a minority in around 15 different counties and only in two counties they constitute the majority.

³ For example, the cities of Brassó (Braşov/Kronstadt), Temesvár (Timişoara/Temeswar) or Kolozsvár (Cluj/Klausenburg) are home to the most important Hungarian-language institutions, but Hungarian-speakers make up less than 20 percent of the local population.

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Updated (January 2008)

ROMANIA RATIFIES THE ECRML

More than 10 years have passed since Romania signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Law on Ratification of the ECRML has only just been published in the Official bulletin, however, making Romania the 23^rd member state of the Council of Europe to ratify the Convention.

Even though the Charter was signed in 1995, Romanian politicians were reluctant to deal with it until now. The draft law on ratification of the ECRML was approved by the Government in March 2006.

The provisions of the Charter, particularly under Part III, apply to these ten minority languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, German, Hungarian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Turkish and Ukrainian. Under Part II, there are included languages of Roma, Tartar, Jewish, Polish, Greek, Armenian, Albanian, Italian, Ruthenian and Macedonian communities.

Representatives of the Hungarian minority feel that the ratification of the ECRML will not significantly change the existing situation. For instance, Mr. Árpád Márton, a Member of Parliament, has stated that as far as the opportunities to use the Hungarian language are concerned, the ratification will not change the existing situation, but it can contribute to the adoption of new, improved legislation in the area of education and minority protection in general.

According to State Secretary Attila Markó, head of the Office of Interethnic Relations, the provisions concerning the Hungarian language are among the most comprehensive ones. He said that in the future, courts and other institutions will be obliged to accept documents written in the minority language as well as it will be possible to submit request in Hungarian, for instance, and the customers' service offices will have to employ Hungarian-speaking staff.

Source: Eurolang News, January 25, 2008 by Judit Solymosi http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3018&Itemid=1&lang=en

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