APPLICATION of the CHARTER in ROMANIA 1St Monitoring Cycle A. Report of the Committee of Experts on the Charter B. Recommendatio
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Strasbourg, 19 June 2012 ECRML (2012) 3 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES APPLICATION OF THE CHARTER IN ROMANIA 1st monitoring cycle A. Report of the Committee of Experts on the Charter B. Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the Charter by Romania 2 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages provides for a control mechanism to evaluate how the Charter is applied in a State Party with a view to, where necessary, making Recommendations for improvements in its legislation, policy and practices. The central element of this procedure is the Committee of Experts, established in accordance with Article 17 of the Charter. Its principal purpose is to examine the real situation of the regional or minority languages in the State, to report to the Committee of Ministers on its evaluation of compliance by a Party with its undertakings, and, where appropriate, to encourage the Party to gradually reach a higher level of commitment. To facilitate this task, the Committee of Ministers has adopted, in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 1, an outline for the periodical reports that a Party is required to submit to the Secretary General. The report shall be made public by the government concerned. This outline requires the State to give an account of the concrete application of the Charter, the general policy for the languages protected under its Part II and in more precise terms all measures that have been taken in application of the provisions chosen for each language protected under Part III of the Charter. The Committee’s first task is therefore to examine the information contained in the periodical report for all the relevant regional or minority languages on the territory of the State concerned. The Committee’s role is to evaluate the existing legal acts, regulations and real practice applied in each State for its regional or minority languages. It has established its working methods accordingly. The Committee gathers information from the respective authorities and from independent sources within the State, with a view to obtaining a just and fair overview of the real language situation. After a preliminary examination of a periodical report, the Committee submits, if necessary, a number of questions to the Party concerned on matters it considers unclear or insufficiently developed in the report itself. This written procedure is usually followed up by an “on-the-spot" visit of a delegation of the Committee to the respective State. During this visit the delegation meets bodies and associations whose work is closely related to the use of the relevant languages, and consults the authorities on matters that have been brought to its attention. Having concluded this process, the Committee of Experts adopts its own report. This report is submitted to the Committee of Ministers, together with suggestions for recommendations that the latter may decide to address to the State Party. 3 Contents A. Report of the Committee of Experts on the application of the Charter in Romania...............................4 Chapter 1 – Background information..................................................................................................................4 1.1. The Charter’s ratification by Romania .....................................................................................................4 1.2. The work of the Committee of Experts....................................................................................................4 1.3. Presentation of the regional or minority language situation in Romania .................................................4 1.4. General issues arising in the evaluation of the application of the Charter in Romania ...........................7 Chapter 2 – The Committee of Experts' evaluation in respect of Part II and Part III of the Charter...................9 2.1. Evaluation in respect of Part II of the Charter .........................................................................................9 2.2. Evaluation in respect of Part III of the Charter ......................................................................................18 2.2.1. Bulgarian....................................................................................................................................18 2.2.2. Croatian......................................................................................................................................32 2.2.3. Czech.........................................................................................................................................44 2.2.4. German ......................................................................................................................................57 2.2.5. Hungarian...................................................................................................................................74 2.2.6. Russian ......................................................................................................................................91 2.2.7. Serbian.....................................................................................................................................104 2.2.8. Slovak ......................................................................................................................................117 2.2.9. Turkish .....................................................................................................................................130 2.2.10. Ukrainian................................................................................................................................144 Chapter 3 Findings of the Committee of Experts in the initial monitoring cycle..............................................158 Appendix I: Instrument of Ratification.........................................................................................................160 Appendix II: Comments by the Romanian authorities ................................................................................168 B. Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the Charter by Romania........................................................................................................................................198 4 A. Report of the Committee of Experts on the application of the Charter in Romania Chapter 1 – Background information 1.1. The Charter’s ratification by Romania 1. Romania signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (hereafter referred to as “the Charter”) on 17 July 1995. The instrument of ratification was deposited with the Council of Europe on 29 January 2008. The Charter entered into force in Romania on 1 May 2008. 2. Article 15, paragraph 1 of the Charter requires States Parties to submit three-yearly reports in a form prescribed by the Committee of Ministers 1. The initial periodical report by Romania, which was due on 1 May 2009, was submitted to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on 26 October 2010. It has also been made public by the Romanian authorities. 3. The Committee of Experts wishes to express its gratitude to the Romanian authorities for the transparent and inclusive approach they have adopted when preparing ratification of the Charter. The Romanian authorities have consulted the minority associations with regard to the instrument of ratification and have kept the Council of Europe informed about the progress. At the time of ratification, several events were organised, with the participation of the Council of Europe, to raise awareness among minority associations of the Charter. The Romanian authorities have also printed and distributed information material about the treaty. The Committee of Experts also notes that the minority associations have been invited to contribute to the drafting of the periodical report which it considers best practice. In addition, the co-operation with the authorities and minority associations during the on-the-spot visit was exemplary. 1.2. The work of the Committee of Experts 4. This initial evaluation report is based on the information obtained by the Committee of Experts from the initial periodical report of Romania and through interviews held with representatives of the speakers of all 20 minority languages, as well as the Romanian authorities during the on-the-spot visit, which took place from 14 to 17 March 2011. In January 2011, the Committee of Experts received a shadow report from the association “Civic Engagement Movement” which is legally established in Romania as required in Article 16 paragraph 2 of the Charter. This shadow report deals with the application of the Charter regarding the Hungarian language in the area of Târgu Mure ș/ Marosvásárhely/Neumarkt. 5. The present report reflects the policies, legislation and practice prevailing at the time of the on-the- spot visit. Any later developments will be taken into account in the next report of the Committee of Experts concerning Romania. 6. This report was adopted by the Committee of Experts on 30 November 2011. 1.3. Presentation of the regional or minority language situation in Romania 7. Romania applies the Charter to 20 regional or minority languages. Ten languages are covered by Part II only: Albanian, Armenian, Greek, Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Romani, Ruthenian, Tatar, and Yiddish. Furthermore, another ten languages are covered by both Parts II and III: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian,