Strasbourg, 1 December 2006 ACFC/SR/II(2006)008 SECOND REPORT SUBMITTED BY AUSTRIA PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 25, PARAGRAPH 1 OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES Received on 1 December 2006 2nd Report by the Republic of Austria pursuant to Article 25 paragraph 2 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Vienna, September 2006 PART I 5 I.1. Introduction 5 I.2. Comments on the Questions and the Resolution of the Council of Europe 8 PART II 23 II.1. The Situation of the National Minorities in Austria 23 II.1.1. The History of the National Minorities 24 The Croat Minority in Burgenland 24 The Slovene Minority 25 The Hungarian Minority 27 The Czech Minority 27 The Slovak Minority 28 The Roma Minority 29 The Numerical Strength of the Minorities 30 II.1.2. The Legal Situation 31 Constitutional Provisions 31 Simple-Law Provisions and Ordinances 33 Case Law 35 II.2. As to the Individual Provisions of the Framework Convention 36 Article 1 36 International Cooperation in the Protection of Minorities 36 Article 2 37 International Agreements 37 Article 3 37 Ad paragraph 1: Freedom to declare one’s affiliation with a national minority 37 Ad paragraph 2: Individual rights and collective rights 38 Article 4 38 Ad paragraph 1: Ban on discrimination – legal basis 39 Ad paragraphs 2 and 3: Supporting measures and the principle of equality 41 Article 5 42 Ad paragraph 1: Promotion of national minorities 42 Development of the funding by the Federal Chancellery for the promotion of the national minorities 42 Criteria for the distribution of promotional funding 44 Statutory basis for providing the national minorities with promotional funding 46 Process of awarding promotional funding 46 Guidelines for special promotional grants 47 Structure of the minority associations in Austria 48 Ad paragraph 2: Protection against assimilation 58 Article 6 59 2 Ad paragraph 1: Encouraging a spirit of tolerance and mutual respect 59 Ad paragraph 2: Protection against discrimination and violence 62 Article 7 63 Article 8 63 Article 9 64 Statutory Situation: 64 Press Promotion Act of 2004 64 Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) Act 64 The programs offered by the ORF in detail 65 Burgenland 65 Carinthia 66 Radio 1476 67 Radio Vienna 68 ORF 2 68 3sat 68 Internet 69 Teletext 70 Private Radio Stations 70 Radio Agora/Radio dva 70 Radio MORA – A multilingual open radio station 71 The Print Media 72 The Burgenland-Croat minority 72 The Slovene minority 73 The Hungarian minority 73 The Czech minority 74 The Slovak minority 74 The Roma minority 74 Article 10 74 Ad paragraph 1: Free use one’s language 75 Ad paragraph 2: Official language 75 The languages at court 78 Constitutional - court case law 79 Ad paragraph 3 79 Article 11 79 Ad paragraph 1: Using surnames and first names in the minority language 79 Ad paragraph 2: Private information visible to the public in a language of the national minority 80 Ad paragraph 3: Bilingual topography 80 Constitutional-court case law 81 The consequences of the court decision 81 Further case law of the Constitutional-court 82 Article 12 82 Article 14 83 General Comments: 83 3 The minority school system in Burgenland 85 The school situation of the Croat minority in Burgenland 88 The school situation of the Hungarian minority in Burgenland 91 The school situation of the Roma minority in Burgenland 97 The school situation of the autochthonous minorities in Vienna 98 The school situation of the Burgenland-Croat minority in Vienna 98 The school situation of the Hungarian minority in Vienna 98 The school situation of the Czechs and Slovak minorities in Vienna 98 The school situation of the Roma population in Vienna 99 The minority school system in Carinthia 100 The school situation of the Slovene minority in Styria 111 The other federal provinces 112 Research and university education 112 Selected examples on research projects and publications regarding the national minorities 115 Article 13 128 Article 15 130 Article 16 133 Article 17 & Article 19 133 Ad paragraph 1: Trans-frontier contacts 134 Ad paragraph 2: Freedom to assemble 134 Article 18 135 ANNEX I New and/or Amended Statutory Provisions Topography Ordinance – Carinthia, 30 June 2006, Federal Law Gazette II No. 245/2006 Topography Ordinance – Carinthia, 17 July 2006, Federal Law Gazette II No. 263/2006 Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) Act, Federal Law Gazette No. 379/1984 in the version of Federal I No. 136/2003 Law Gazette II No. 159/2005 Press Promotion Act of 2005, Federal Law Gazette 139 ANNEX II 136 Comments by the National Minority Advisory Boards 177 ANNEX III Research Projects, Publications and Exhibitions Regarding the National Minorities in the Years 2000 – 2005 187 4 PART I I.1. General Remarks As mentioned before in the first national report submitted in 2000, Austria ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities on 31 March 1998, and – in accordance with its Article 1 (1), it entered into force on 1 July 1998 (Federal Law Gazette III No. 120/1998). Austria communicated the first national report on 15 November 2000. In December 2001, a delegation of the Advisory Committee visited Austria in order to meet with representatives of the federal authorities, the regional authorities, the national minorities, as well as of NGOs. The Advisory Committee accepted the review report on Austria on the occasion of its 14th session on 16 May 2002 [CM(2002)91]. The Federal Chancellery commented on the review report of the Council of Europe on 17 October 2002. On 12 June 2003, the President of the Advisory Committee communicated a catalogue of items for the national report which Austria has to submit in the second monitoring cycle. This catalogue became part of the resolution regarding Austria, which the Committee of Ministers ultimately adopted on 4 February 2004 and which was communicated to the Republic of Austria. This resolution contains both the conclusions and the recommendations of the Advisory Committee [ResCMN(2004)1]. In compliance with Article 25 (2 )of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Austria is now submitting its second national report. The report reflects the status on 6 September 2006 and follows the recommendations of the Advisory Committee in its general structure. The first part of the national report deals in detail with the questions raised by the Advisory Committee. The measures taken by Austria in order to implement the proposals for improvement by the Council of Europe, as recommended in the resolution, are explained in detail. In addition, the changes in Austrian legislation concerning national minorities are described. For the benefit of a complete overview, the new and/or the amended legal sources are attached in the Annex. These are discussed in the report. 5 The second part of the present national report is a comprehensive and updated document which highlights in detail the measures taken to protect and to promote the national minorities that live on Austrian territory. In analogy to the first national report, the second part of the present report has been structured in keeping with the individual articles of the Framework Convention. In this connection, both the current and the historical measures of Austria's policy for the national minorities are illustrated. The statutory measures are covered in this part and it contains a comprehensive presentation of the situation of the individual national minorities. It deals with economic and sociological aspects, as well as with the bilingual educational system, the state's promotion of the national minorities and the media facilities available to the national minorities. The Federal Chancellery seized the individual National Minority Advisory Councils with the draft of the second national report and gave them the opportunity to comment on it in writing. The statement of the Slovene minority is attached in the annex; the wishes of the other National Minority Advisory Councils were integrated into the present report. An updated summary of the research projects, publications and exhibitions on topics that are specific of the national minorities round off the present report. The Republic of Austria welcomes the comprehensive review and monitoring activities regarding the implementing measures for the Framework Convention on the part of the Council of Europe. The Republic of Austria continues to be committed to an intensive and open dialogue concerning issues of the national minorities and thanks the Advisory Committee, as well as the Committee of Ministers for their constructive cooperation. The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is an instrument that is excellently suited to do justice to the efforts of national minorities in Europe to obtain recognition, as well as to implement their rights. In its resolution of 4 February 2004, the Council of Europe acknowledged the efforts of Austria with a view to protecting the national minorities living on Austrian territory and pointed out that legislation for the national minorities has been improved, as well as Austria’s school and media policies. In the further course of the report, specific issues and suggestions for improvement will be discussed in detail. 6 It should also be mentioned that the so-called "”Three Wiese Men”" drew up a report, which the President of the European Court of Human Rights had commissioned, It dealt in detail with the "steps taken by the Austrian government in favor of the common European values, especially the rights of minorities, refugees and immigrants". In their conclusions regarding the rights of national minorities, the authors (Martti Athisaari, Jochen Frowein and Marcelino Oreja) arrive at the following result: "Austria's legal system has established special protective measures for the minorities living in Austria.