EU double standards: FUEN visits Greece

“It’s ironic and quite hypocritical, while the European Union is thoroughly checking its new and future member States for the implementation of the Copenhagen criteria regarding minorities, it neglects to do the same for the old member states”. This was one of the main conclusions of Zlatka Gieler, vice-president of the Federal Union of Ethnic Minorities (FUEN), after her 3-day (25-28 April) visit to Greece.

According to Mrs Gieler, Greece and France are typical examples of countries that never followed EU guidelines for the protection of ethnic and linguistic diversity and continue to discriminate against thier linguistic minorities moreorless undisturbed.

FUEN’s vice-president visited the northern Greek provinces of Thrace, Florina/Lerinsko & Edessa/Voden, after invitations from the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF) and FUEN’s member Vinozhito/Rainbow, organization of the Macedonians in Greece.

In Thrace, she met with the only Muslim deputy in the Greek Parliament, Ilhan Ahmet, as well as with Turkish local elected representatives.

During her meeting with Mr. Ahmet, who belongs to the conservative and now ruling New Democracy Party, Zlatka Gieler once more requested a meeting of a FUEN delegation with the Minister of Education to discuss the problems of the educational system, especially in regions where linguistic or ethnic minorities live. Last November, an initial meeting between FUEN and the Special Secretary of the Greek ministry was cancelled. The Ministry refused to reschedule it because of the possible presence of a Macedonian representative. The Muslim MP promised that he will try to reestablish the communication channels.

In Florina/Lerinsko, Mrs Gieler met with the deputy Prefect and five mayors of local municipalities, explained FUEN’s views on the wider use of the Macedonian language, the need for its introduction into the education system and suggested projects that could enhance the public presence of the language, as well as encourage the Macedonian-speaking population to use it.

Unlike the “Muslims” (Turks, Pomaks, Roma) in Thrace (the only officially recognized minority in Greece), Macedonians for decades had to face the ban of their mother tongue and various forms of discrimination for using it.

While the situation has improved a little, Macedonian is only taught orally within the home and few are able to read or write the language.

Zlatka Gieler, an Austrian Croat herself, experienced some of the stigma associated with the language when she attended a festivity in the village of Agras/Vladovo in Edessa/Voden. While the participating youngsters were dancing and singing in Macedonian, they seemed extremely hesitant to speak it in public.

Seven other mayors of the Florina/Lerinsko region did not reply to FUEN’s written inquiry for meetings during Mrs Gieler’s visit.

The Youth section of the European Free Alliance, represented by Eva Bidania Ibargutxi, also visited the Lerinsko region a few weeks ago. Her report is in the magazine section. (Eurolang 2006)