Co-existence of traditional communities is the way forward

In her speech Kinga Gál emphasized the importance of the co-existence of traditional communities, especially majority and national minority groups, which is an art of living together rather than just next to each other. The traditional cultural heritage of these communities is an unique advantage in our rich, common cultural heritage. Amongst others topics she referred to the teaching and learning of each others' history and cultural heritage, which has a defining role to play in the individual and collective perception of minorities. Furthermore, teaching and learning of each other's languages is also crucial in order to give dignity to our languages, not only the minority learning the majority, but also the majority learning the minority language. Mrs Gál called the Commission to support such initiatives and projects.

A number of other distinguished speakers presented best practise cases of how the image of their minority language has been enhanced. The seminar was organized within the framework of the European Foundation Centre’s (EFC) Foundation Week to take place in Brussels during the first week of June.

Please find more on the conference here.