Conference paper
The European Union Enlargement and the Protection of Ethnic Minorities
Antonija Petričušić
; Faculty of Law, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
Abstract
This article introduces the EU human rights protection policy by analysing sources of double standards in terms of ethnic minorities protection within the "old" EU members states and those that have been
accepted after the adoption of the Copenhagen criteria in 1993, as well as, the EU policy on diversity and non-discrimination. In the second part the author argues that even though there is a lack of unique ethnic minority protection policy, which is obligatory for all members states, representatives of minority communities still posses certain tools which are possible to be applied in order to achieve equality of the ethnic minorities at the EU level. Considering above mentioned facts, this part of the article analyses existing level of ethnic minority protection based on the EU anti-discrimination legal framework. In the third part author analyses political criteria for the EU membership according to which candidate countries need to respect and protect minority rights using the model of Croatia's accession to the EU.
Keywords
anti-discrimination; human rights; minority rights; European Union; Copenhagen criteria; Stabilisation and Association Process
Hrčak ID:
291271
URI
Publication date:
21.9.2008.
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