Lithuania seeks balance in minority rights

Speaking at the conference organized by the European Foundation of Human Rights Remigijus Šimašius, the Mayor of Vilnius pledged that the Lithuanian capital will be leading the way in defending the minority rights to education. He also supported the demands of country`s Polish citizens to write their names in their original spelling, echoing an earlier decision of the Parliament`s legal committe.

Heightened attention of Lithuania`s politicians to minority rights comes after series of damaging disputes that have strained relations between the Polish minority and Lithuanian government. As late as September 2, Polish ethnic minority schools launched an open-ended strike  in Lithuania, protesting an educational reform, which means the pupils will spend more hours learning Lithuanian in minority schools.

While some of the Lithuanian political leaders have been quick and harsh to condemn the Polish minority revindications earlier, the current tone is more balanced and conciliatory. Part of this undoubtedly has to do with expanding cohesion between Lithuania and Poland in economy and in security policy. Spat over minority rights has been a fly in the ointment for ever closer cooperation.

But the legal battles over minority rights have also paved the way to EU`s expanding role in protecting its fundamental principles.

EU – difficulties of enforcement

Cases of exclusion, discrimination, and growing hostility between the majority and minority communities are rooted in the post-communist surge of nationalism. Decades of Soviet repression have exacerbated the quest for ethnic identity, but have also considerably weakened civic identities. The EU’s philosophy of “unity in diversity” has struggled to take root. It  is cleaerly faltering even more evidently in times of economic downturn, as recently evidenced in openly xenophobic reaction of many Eastern European states to inflow of Syrian refugees.

The Polish community in Lithuania, which makes up 6.6 percent of the population, has been inflamed by what it sees as the suppression of the Polish language in public life. Demands have been made for the right to use the Polish spelling of names and surnames in official documents, and to double street names in largely Polish areas. Lithuanian authorities have defended their policies as promoting the integration  of minorities in the higher education and the labor market.

Article 2 of the EU Lisbon Treaty lists the respect of minority rights as one of the core values of the European Union. A state may only join the EU if it respects these values. But there is a catch – once a state has become a member, the EU has little power to intervene, because the EU member states gave no explicit legislative or executive authority to the EU institutions in the field of minority protection. Moreover, there is no common understanding among EU members on whether the EU should have powers in this area, let alone a common definition of a “national minority”.

Council of Europe – setting the standards

Since 1993, the evaluation of the minority rights situation has been one of the determining factors for the membership for former Soviet States in the Council of Europe (CoE). 

Activists and politicians supporting the Polish claims in Lithuania turn to the human rights framework offered by the Council of Europe (CoE) to supplement the lack of a workable legal framework provided by the EU. The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe the signatory states to enable the use of the minority language in street names in largely minority populated areas. Minorities in South Tyrol (Italy), areas of Austria, Germany, and Spain enjoy such rights. Central Europe has taken its first steps in this direction – the Hungarian minority in the north of Serbia (Vojvodina) has achieved these rights with the support of the EU and OSCE. The Advisory Committee to the Convention has said that bilingual street names do not endanger the status of the state language.

The CoE mechanisms have been crucial in shaping the normative framework for the EU in human rights and promoting cooperation between the EU and other international organizations in the field of minority rights. Since 1977, the tripartite Declaration of the CoE, the European Commission and the European Parliament on Human Rights have required EU applicant states to be parties to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which was only open to CoE member states, and to accept the right of the individual petition under the ECHR.

Once ratified by the states, the EHCR becomes part of the national legal system – it is enforceable by national courts, and ultimately by the European Court of Human Rights. But the European states could not reach a consensus on minority rights that would enable mechanisms of legal redress.

The Framework Convention – unlike ECHR – is not directly applicable. To be implemented, it requires the countries to adopt the relevant national laws and policies. The countries that ratified the Framework Convention are required to submit public reports on the status of minority rights to the Committee of Ministers of the CoE. The CoE officials then visit the countries, based on the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers, which has proven to be an effective monitoring tool. 

Lithuania has ratified the Framework Convention, but has not signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the CoE , which would offer more specific guarantees to the minority population. As a result, the Polish minority has tried to link the damaging legal practices to violations of EU law, where the EU has considerably more enforcement power.

National laws take priority?

Recently, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on a related case Runevič-Vardyn and Wardyn vs. Lithuania . The case concerns a Lithuanian law that prescribes all names and surnames to be written in official documents (for example, a marriage certificate) using Lithuanian spelling. In this case, a Lithuanian citizen Mrs. Runevič married a Polish citizen Mr. Wardyn, so her last name was changed – in Lithuanian spelling – to Runevič-Vardyn. She claims that that the authorities’ refusal to write her last name in Polish – Runiewicz-Wardyn – restricts her access to freedom of movement, guaranteed by the EU law for every EU citizen. Since the couple live in Belgium, the different surnames lead to problems with Belgian authorities and everyday life: in particular, it made it hard to prove that she and Mr. Wardyn were indeed married.

The ECJ recognized the right of the state of Lithuania to determine the spelling rules of names in official documents in the state language. It also ruled that while it was also possible to amend such records with the official spelling in language of another member state, it was up to the Lithuanian courts to decide whether the omission of such a record would lead “to a serious inconvenience at administrative, professional and private levels“ for the claimant.

Towards "more Europe"?

A recent  case heard by ECJ  hints at “more Europe”  to be expected in a range of matters traditionally governed by national laws. According to ECJ ruling, member states must respect EU fundamental rights guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights each time they act within the scope of EU law. The prohibition of discrimination on the basis of belonging to a national minority is one of these rights. Since a very broad spectrum of national activities fall within the scope of EU law (i.e. rules relating to the free movement of goods, workers and services), the broadening application of the Charter may gradually elevate the national minority question to the EU level.

Like its regional counterparts, Lithuania is facing serious challenges to its national minority policies. In addition to the instruments devised by CoE to promote and monitor minority protection in state parties, the EU has also displayed a willingness to discuss minority rights, despite its limited authority. In the end, all would depends on the Lithuanian government’s determination to ensure minority protection in its national laws and policies, finding a middle ground between the Lithuanian identity and Polish minority rights.

If recent statements are anything to go by, upholding the Polish minority rights seem to be considered indispensable for Lithuania`s security and development.

Aiste Mickonyte is University Assistant at the Institute for European Law (University of Graz) and Assistant Editor of the Review of Central and East European Law.