European Court of Justice Dismisses Minority SafePack Appeal

On June 5, 2025, the European Court of Justice conclusively rejected an appeal by the Minority SafePack European Citizens’ Initiative (MSPI). This decision effectively voids 15 years of civic mobilization on behalf of the initiative.
 
The goal of the Minority SafePack was for the European Union to adopt comprehensive legislation to ensure the protection, support, and fair treatment of indigenous national minorities.  Although the EU member states are obligated by treaty and domestic law to provide such protections, the EU as a whole has no effective mechanism for enforcing these obligations or investigating violations. The MSPI sought to remedy this lack of EU-level legislation – a major step which could affect the 50 million citizens of the EU who belong to indigenous national or linguistic minorities.
 
Using a mechanism called the European Citizens Initiative (ECI), the MSPI in 2017-2018 successfully gathered signatures from more than one million European citizens from 11 states, easily surpassing the minimum required to validate such an initiative; the MSPI was declared valid in 2020.
 

In addition, the MSPI won the support of three-quarters of the European Parliament, the German Bundestag, the Hungarian National Assembly, and several regional European parliaments, further underlining the broad support it enjoyed throughout Europe.

 

Nevertheless, in January 2021, the European Commission decided not to act on the MSPI, claiming that minority rights protection is the responsibility of the Member States – not the EU as a whole. Moreover, the European Commission claimed that the situation of minority rights has been resolved. This decision by the European Commission was upheld the following year by the General Court of the European Union.

 

In response, the MSPI submitted an appeal to the European Court of Justice in 2023. This year, on June 5, 2025, the Court issued a final rejection of the appeal without addressing any of its substantive arguments.

 

Decision Comes as a Blow

“The EU has rejected an opportunity to create a more equal, inclusive, and fair European Union for its autochthonous national minorities,” stated Loránt Vincze, Member of the European Parliament, co-author of the Minority SafePack Initiative, and President of FUEN (Federal Union of European Nationalities).[1]

 

In what he called “an unjust and unfair decision,” Vincze sharply criticized the Court’s refusal to engage with the legal and substantive arguments of the MSPI. He added:

 
“What happened is outrageous. This is not a real judgment but a technical rejection, following 15 years of delay.”

In a televised interview[2] the same day, Vincze deepened his critique. According to him, the European Commission deliberately avoided genuine dialogue with the initiative’s authors. While it engaged constructively with other, less-supported initiatives, it completely shut out the Minority SafePack.[3] “Not once were they willing to meet us in an unofficial setting,” he declared.
  

The Struggle Continues – FUEN Will Not Back Down

FUEN, the umbrella organization for Europe’s 50 million ethnic and linguistic minorities, summarized the ruling as follows: “They heard us loud and clear and chose to do nothing.”[4] According to the FUEN statement issued June 5,  “the rights of national minorities and language groups in Europe have regressed over the past decade. Many communities face cultural assimilation and the loss of their languages. European institutions and national governments still fail to grasp the gravity of the situation.

 

…people belonging to national minorities and linguistic groups feel consistently left out of all EU actions on diversity, equality, and justice, including the rule of law.

FUEN statement, June 5, 2025

Despite the Court’s rejection of the Minority Safepack, FUEN and its partners are continuing to create new alliances and partners to promote EU legislation on the rights of national minorities. As Vincze declared: “We may have lost the case, but we have gained something even more important: European solidarity.”

 

Conclusion from the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation

The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation believes that the long-term success of European integration is inconceivable without genuine protection and participation of national minorities. The recent outcome of the Minority SafePack appeal represents a significant missed opportunity for the European Union to advance minority rights.

 

In particular, the European Commission avoided genuine dialogue with the initiative’s authors. Considering that the MinoritySafePack Initiative enjoyed broad support from European citizens and the European Parliament, the Commission’s total lack of substantive engagement with the Initiative’s arguments is insufficient and troubling.

 

The Court’s recent decision also demonstrates the limitations of the current European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) framework in enabling citizens to participate meaningfully in the democratic life of the Union. For this reason, its decision is not only disappointing for national minority and minority language communities but also undermines the trust of all European citizens who seek to use democratic mechanisms to advance fundamental rights in the EU.

 

The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation calls upon the European Commission to begin open and substantive dialogue with representatives of national minorities. It also calls on the European Parliament to issue a resolution reiterating its support for citizens’ initiatives, particularly the MCPI’s efforts to promote legislation for the protection of national minorities.

[1] Loránt Vincze, Facebook post, June 5, 2025
[2] Erdély Television’s “24Plusz” newsmagazine, June 5, 2025.
[3] For a “sobering perspective” on European Citizens Initiative, read Alberto Alemanno’s legal and policy-based insights here (June 19, 2025): “Despite positioning the EU as a pioneer in participatory governance, the ECI’s promise remains largely unfulfilled, leading to widespread disenchantment among citizens”.
[4] Federal Union of European Nationalities, Facebook post, June 11, 2025
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