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Minorities: OSCE in Udine, 'new challenges, new commitment'

Recommendations from Danilo Tuerk (Slovenia) and commr Zannier

16 July, 16:11
(ANSA) - UDINE - ''Ten years after Bozen/Bolzano recommendations, I think the overall political situation in Europe is better than before, but nothing happens automatically, there are no results that come without an effort and I think that further work is needed everywhere, for every national minority in Europe ''. That is what the former President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Tuerk, said Monday in Udine on the sidelines of the international conference on the issue of relations between States on minorities, organized by the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (SCE) Lamberto Zannier.

The event takes place in the Ajace hall in Udine as part of the Italian Presidency of the OSCE with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the FVG Region, the Municipality and the University of Udine, and the Mitteleuropa Association.

Talking about new minorities in Europe, those which are the result of immigration, Tuerk - guest of honor at the conference - warned against confusion. ''We must understand - he said - that historically consolidated national minorities have a kind of priority, which is basically the preservation of their ethnic, linguistic, cultural identity, whereas the new incoming migrant groups have a different priority, which is above all to be socially integrated into the society in which they begin to live''. Therefore, Tuerk underlined, ''for the migrant communities the overwhelming majority of the efforts I think should be placed on topics such as language education, cultural awareness and the search for appropriate jobs for these people''.

According to Tuerk, ''the barbed wire fences in Europe are the result of some security problems that have been dominant so far, but I imagine that the policies of the European Union will now go towards reducing this sort of irrational fear'' .

''This is an interesting moment because, we underlined today, since Italy has not yet ratified the Council of Europe Convention on the protection of minority languages: this is a good opportunity to remind our Parliament that it is important to take effective steps to protect the right of minorities to keep their culture alive'', said Zannier. In the current map of critical issues across Europe,''alongside traditional minorities - Zannier highlighted - and therefore alongside the problems of Russian minorities in the Baltic region and across Ukraine, in Hungary and Romania, the issues of minorities in the Balkans, in Bosnia and Kosovo for exampple, we also have the so-called new minorities, those that do not have a precise definition or even are the result of the migratory movements in recent years''. The difficulties of integration related to some communities, especially Islamic ones, in Western countries such as Belgium, France or the UK, ''if not managed - said Zannier - lead to isolation and radicalization that in some cases causes terrorism: therefore the problem of integration is even more acute in those countries and should be discussed and taken into account''.

The Udine conference was also attended by the governor of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Massimiliano Fedriga, who underlined that ''recognizing and protecting minorities - added Fedriga - are objectives to which Friuli Venezia Giulia is committed both in the relations with central government and in terms of international relations, first of all those with neighbouring countries''.

(ANSA).

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