Ethnic Minorities in Europe: The Basic Facts

Even though there is no agreed definition of what constitutes an ethnic group, there are a number of features that most academic treatments of the subject attribute to such groups: a proper collective name, shared myths of origin, and cultural characteristics, such as language, religion, traditions and customs that distinguish a given group from others. Different combinations of these features are exhibited by minorities and majorities alike, what makes an ethnic group a minority is a numerically and politically non-dominant position in a state of which they are citizens. Members of ethnic minorities would identify with their group’s unique features and, in most circumstances, be recognised by other members of the group. In addition, it is now widely acknowledged that group membership is a matter of individual choice rather than something to be determined by the state. This, however, does not mean that every ethnic minority and everyone who considers himself or herself a member of such a minority is officially recognised as such. Poland, for example, did not recognise the existence of ethnic Germans as a minority in the country before 1989, and both France and Greece still have difficulties accepting that there countries are ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse. For the most part, however, European countries accept that their societies are multi-ethnic. In some countries, like Hungary, Spain and Belgium, diversity is explicitly recognised and minorities are acknowledged as constituent parts of the nation. Many other countries, too, have committed to the protection of ethnic minorities and have translated into domestic policy the obligations of international treaties securing the rights of ethnic minorities.