In a judgment delivered on Wednesday 9 November (case T-158/21), the General Court of the European Union dismissed the action of the promoters of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘Minority SafePack’ against the European Commission’s communication of January 2021 (see EUROPE 12638/23), in which the Commission justified its refusal to present a legislative initiative to promote cultural and linguistic diversity.
According to the General Court, the Commission complied with the obligation to state reasons and did not commit any manifest error when it detailed the reasons why it considered that, at that stage, no additional legal act was necessary to achieve the objectives pursued by this ECI.
The promoters of the European Citizens’ Initiative had four key proposals: - a Council recommendation on the protection and promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity in the EU; - the creation of a European centre for linguistic diversity in the field of regional and minority languages; - the amendment of legislation to guarantee approximately equal treatment for stateless persons and EU citizens; - an amendment to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive to ensure freedom to provide services in regions where national minorities reside.
The Commission was entitled to refer to the 1992 European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe to justify its refusal to submit a specific recommendation to protect and promote cultural and linguistic diversity. Furthermore, the Commission rightly considered that the tasks of the Council of Europe’s European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) already contribute to the objectives of a possible European centre for cultural diversity.
In January 2022, the European Court of Justice upheld the Commission’s decision to register the ECI, which was challenged by Romania (case C-899/19 P) (see EUROPE 12873/32).
See the General Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/3zo (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)