PRESS RELEASE

Schleswig-Holstein as a minority model in Europe – FUEN president issues a warning: “Don’t jeopardise achievements with petty party-political games”

With the inclusion of the Sinti and Roma in the Schleswig-Holstein constitution as an autochthonous minority in Europe on an equal level with the Danes and Frisians, the regional politicians in Kiel aroused strong interest in Germany, and in Europe too, for good reason. In these times, where Roma are discriminated for who they are, where they are persecuted and even murdered, this is an important signal that should not be underestimated, says the president of the largest association of the autochthonous minorities in Europe, the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), Hans Heinrich Hansen. “I want to make it clear that I have great respect for this decision. Especially the fact that the members of the Landtag (regional parliament) all agreed is a wonderful sign. This is a historic decision.” The FUEN-president, who has been chairman of the German minority in Denmark for many years, is therefore puzzled that, parallel to these very positive developments, the minority issue is being taken up as a subject for party-politics. More concrete; again questions are raised on the legitimacy of the seats of the Danish minority party SSW. A case is pending at the German constitutional court on the exemption of SSW from the elections threshold of 5%*. A proposal has been tabled that would abolish the exemption, which is based on the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations from 1955**. Instead SSW should get one “guaranteed” seat in the parliament of the land. At this moment SSW has three seats in the parliament. “This discussion on the status of the seats of SSW is inappropriate. Since 1955 the Federal Republic of Germany, the Land of Schleswig-Holstein and the Kingdom of Denmark have agreed to enact reciprocal rules on how to deal with their minorities. This has been a unique approach that has proved to be a success and has become a model for Europe. I consider it both wrong and irresponsible to question these arrangements just because you are not satisfied with the outcome of an election”, says Hansen. Of course SSW has to be open for criticism and discussion and endure the competition between the parties, says the FUEN president. That means that SSW should be treated as any other party – that is only legitimate. “But questioning the basic structure of political participation of the Danish minorities and the Frisians, only because of dissatisfaction with the outcome of elections, would be disastrous”, says Hansen. He hopes that the courts soon will provide clarity (again) and end the discussion on the status of the seats of the minority party SSW.  *In Germany (as in some other countries) thresholds are applied in most elections. If a party does not reach this threshold, their votes will not count and the party will not enter the (regional or federal) parliament. The alleged reason for these thresholds is the stability of the political system: by not allowing small groups into the chambers, fragmentation is averted, which makes it easier to form a stable coalition government and easier for the parliament to perform its controlling functions. Minority parties have been exempted from this threshold, as the participation of national minorities in German society has been regarded so far as a ground that is more important than the stability consideration mentioned before. **The Bonn Copenhagen Declarations from 1955 were unilateral, reciprocal declarations made by Denmark and Germany in which the protection of minorities on both sides of the German-Danish border was arranged.