The Minority SafePack Initiative is now available for online signatures

As of today, European citizens everywhere can now support the European Citizens’ Initiative online, to promote the cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe. On the Minority SafePack Initiative campaign homepage (http://www.minority-safepack.eu) the “Sign” button will allow access to the official petition system, where the respective country form needs to be accessed and the required data needs to be filled in. Additionally, a full overview of the online signatures that have been registered so far can be viewed.

“Both the paper forms and the online signature tool are now ready for signatures on our website. That means that the technical conditions for a successful campaign are met. We call upon the citizens to learn about our proposals for the protection and promotion of the autochthonous minorities, cultures and languages in the EU and directly support the petition on the website” – stated Loránt Vincze, FUEN President.

FUEN advisor and MSPI coordinator Frank de Boer met with the IT department of the European Commission in Brussels, in order to finalise the technical preparations for the online collection system.

Accordingly, it is now possible to support the Minority SafePack Initiative both online and on paper forms. That means, that the technical framework for a successful campaign is now in place.

In the coming weeks, we will intensify our work. A Europe-wide campaign strategy is underway and materials are being prepared. For this task the FUEN is currently looking for a Campaign Manager.

Following the official launch event at the FUEN Congress this year, our member organisations and partners have already been active in planning and implementing their own MSPI events. The FUEN and the Citizens’ Committee appreciate the joint efforts and are very thankful to their members who have already managed to advertise and collect signatures on paper forms within their respective communities.

The Minority SafePack Initiative calls upon the European Union to improve the protection of persons belonging to national and linguistic minorities and strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity in the Union. To that effect, the European Union should adopt legal acts in the areas of regional and minority languages, education and culture, regional policy, participation, equality, audiovisual and other media content, and also regional (state) support. The aim of the citizens’ initiative is to encourage the European Union to engage more strongly with minority issues in the future.

In the summer of 2013, the Minority SafePack Initiative was submitted by a high level Citizens’ Committee. After a negative decision by the Commission and a long legal procedure at the EU Court in Luxembourg, the Citizens’ Committee won the legal case in February 2017. The European Commission therefore had to take a new decision. After a dialogue between the Citizens’ Committee and the European Commission, the Minority SafePack Initiative was registered in the beginning of April 2017. Of the eleven proposals initially submitted, the Commission considered that nine were within their competences. It is for these proposals that we now collect signatures. Once we have more than one million signatures, the Commission is obliged to engage with the subject of the initiative. But the more support we get for the initiative, the stronger its influence will be on the policies of the European Union.

Minority SafePack Initiative - Campaign Homepage
http://www.minority-safepack.eu

European Commission Homepage
https://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/32/public/index.do?lang=en

Source: www.fuen.org