歐盟對於少數人權之保障少數民族、少數語言個案分析

本文旨在探討歐盟「少數人權」（尤其是少數民族權利、語言權利）之發展。歐盟境內各國皆有少數民族（洛馬人、吉普賽人等流浪民族）和少數語言問題（南提洛爾、布列塔尼亞、科西嘉、巴斯克等）。為了確保和平和繁榮，歐盟愈來愈重視「少數人權」，但對於境內十五國和新申請加盟國採取不同作法。有鑑於中歐、東歐各國境內少數族群、少數語言之複雜性，歐盟嚴格要求候選國必須大幅加強境內「少數人權」之保障，方可加入歐盟；土耳其即因人權不彰，申請加盟案屢遭擱置。此外，歐盟亦推出PHARE、TACIS等多項援助計劃，協助中歐、東歐國家加速「民主化」和「法治國」之發展。

This article analyzes the development of minority rights in the European Union, specifically with regard to the rights of ethnic and language minorities. To insure enduring peace and prosperity, the EU is giving more attention to minorities and“minority rights”issues: the Jews, Romans and Yiddish peoples etc. Focus has also been placed on minority language issues in South Tyrol, Brittany, Corsica and Basque etc. Regional or minority language conflicts are highly-charged issues that must be dealt with special care. Since the end of the Cold War, the EU has continued its expansion to Central and Eastern European countries; therefore, it’s foreseeable that in the future the minority rights issues will be much more subtle because in these areas, the problems of ethno or language diversity are much more acute. In its external relations, the degree of respect toward minority rights is also one of the criteria of the EU for evaluating applicant countries. For example, the entry of Turkey into the EU has been postponed, be-cause of its lack of respect for human rights and minority rights. The EU has also founded programs such as TACIS or PHARE to help ap-plicant countries or former communist countries to establish the rule of law and become democratic states.