The European Commission and Minority Rights

With its extensive powers, the Commission could interpret ‘expansively’ the numerous legal references relating to minorities in EU Law, and develop the EU’s engagement with minority rights. The Commission could do this by (i) focusing on the full spectrum of minority rights where permitted, (ii) engaging in minority rights as broadly as legal powers allow and (iii) applying these consistently across case studies and states. This chapter argues that the Commission’s current performance is not of adequate quality and quantity, when compared to the possibilities presented by the legal powers. This is particularly problematic since minority rights is a declared value of the EU in primary law. This unsatisfactory performance on the part of the Commission lends support to those who have long called into question the status of the EU as an organisation credibly founded upon the values of human rights and minority protection