PRESS RELEASE Media rush at the presentation of the citizens’ initiative
Hans Heinrich Hansen, Hunor Kelemen, József Berényi, László Borbély / Photo: RMDSZ.ro
With the slogan “You are not alone – one million signatures for diversity in Europe”, the Europe-wide citizens’ initiative – the “Minority SafePack Initiative” – was presented at the seat of the Democratic Alliance of the Hungarians (RMDSZ) in Cluj / Kolosvár yesterday. At the presentation were FUEN President Hans Heinrich Hansen, FUEN Vice President Martha Stocker and FUEN Director Jan Diedrichsen. The founding partners of the initiative, which has been in preparation since 2011, are FUEN, the Hungarians in Romania, the South Tyrolean People’s Party and the Youth of European Nationalities (YEN). The goal of the European citizens’ initiative is to collect one million signatures and to encourage the European Commission to put the issues of the autochthonous minorities / ethnic groups and regional or minority languages high on the agenda of the European Union. A specific emphasis is put on a strong Europe of the regions. The citizens’ initiative proposed concrete measures that will improve the situation of the more than 300 minority groups in Europe. Europe has more than 100 million people who belong to an autochthonous minority / ethnic group and in the European Union alone 40 million people speak another language than the official state language of their country. Only few weeks before the FUEN Congress in Brixen, South Tyrol, where the citizens’ initiative will be officially presented during a ceremony that will be attended by the 90 member