The European Union between official and minority languages

The European Union linguistic regime safeguards market rules through the principle of equal competition and the accessibility to the European legislation in a known language. However, paradoxically enough, this regime can hinder the speed and efficiency of the institutions in charge of the market and legislation. Therefore, the institutions of the European Union and the Court of Justice tend to adopt a strict interpretation of the official nature of EU languages, denying the principle of equality of languages. Respect and protection of minorities were introduced in the Copenhagen criteria and in the EU Treaty in order to settle the conflicts of nationalities and minorities in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, despite the fact that some Western States failed to apply this principle. The European Citizens’ Initiative “Minority SafePack –one million signatures for diversity in Europe” came across many barriers and failed to achieve any effective results. The idea of Europe pushes towards cultural and linguistic exchanges, but the European institutions are not always in a position to put this into practice.