Rainbow Party Press Release on the Comments of
Greek M.E.P. Xarchakos in the European Commission

March 19, 2003

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Parliamentary Questions
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1140/03
From Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the European Commission

(19 March 2003)

Subject: EBLUL and the systematic defamation of an EU Member State

It is a known fact that in Greece democratic freedoms and cultural diversity are fully protected and safeguarded. Accordingly, the growing Muslim minority in the Greek region of Thrace enjoys comprehensive media access (newspapers, radio stations, unimpeded reception of Turkish satellite stations, many of which constantly vilify Greece, etc.). It is represented by elected Muslim deputies in the Greek parliament, and has numerous places of worship, built and restored with Greek government funding.

All other minority groups, however small, enjoy similar freedoms. For example, the tiny Slav-speaking community in Florina has created its own political party (it has offices and newspapers; it openly propagandizes its ideas that never fail to vilify Greece and the Greeks) that enters a negligible contingent in all Greek electoral contests. Of late, anti-Greek propaganda has been stepped up, spearheaded by the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL). Recently, a book (co-funded by the Commission as stated on p. 2) full of "advice" and "recommendations" (p. 6 and elsewhere) on Greece was distributed to MEPs. Page 5 contains a reference to "Macedonian" speakers in Greece, while EBLUL President Brezigar recommends (p. 12) that "Greeks should learn English as well as Macedonian (!)."

Does the Commission (which is apparently providing funding for the Bureau's activities) share Mr. Brezigar's historically questionable views regarding the existence of a "Macedonian" language? Exactly what funding (itemized amounts) has the Bureau received from the European Union, and for which years? Why is funding being provided to a Bureau, which disseminates propaganda against a member-state? What action is the Bureau taking in countries where minority cultures are being oppressed - such as in the Greek communities in Albania and Turkey? Does the Commission know whether or not EBLUL Committees in member-states of the EU contain extreme nationalistic elements, which are being systematically incited by third countries to create tensions in specific regions of the EU? What are the names of the members of the Greek EBLUL Committee, and what are their precise professions and credentials?

PRESS RELEASE

Concerning the parliamentary question by the New Democracy MEP and composer Stavros Xarchakos on the subject "The European Bureau of Lesser-Used Languages and the systematic defamation of an EU member state," which was tabled to the Commission on 19 March 2003, we wish to point out the following:
Mr. Xarchakos states at the beginning of his question, "It is a known fact that in Greece democratic freedoms and cultural diversity are fully protected and safeguarded."

Could the worthy composer please cite the legislature that safeguards cultural diversity in Greece and what protective measures the state takes?

Is he aware that Greek citizens who have gone abroad to work have had their citizenship revoked because they identify themselves as ethnic Macedonians (Article 20, Paragraph 1g of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Greece)? Is he also aware that Macedonian political refugees who left Greece during the Greek Civil War have been prohibited from returning because, according to legislation, "they are not Greeks by genus" (Law 1266/1982)?

Is he aware that Greece still has not ratified the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe on National Minorities, and that it still has not signed the Charter for the Protection of Minorities and Regional Languages?

In reference to the freedoms enjoyed, according to his accounts, by the "Muslim minority," he claims that "all other minority groups, however small, enjoy similar freedoms. For example, the tiny Slav-speaking community in Florina has created its own political party (it has offices and newspapers; it openly propagandizes its ideas that never fail to vilify Greece and the Greeks) that enters a negligible contingent in all Greek electoral contests."

We first of all welcome his statement that Greece has other minority groups. This is a democratic position and one contrary to the fixed position of all Greek governments to date that the only minority in Greece is the Muslim minority of Thrace.

Is Mr. Xarchakos aware of the judicial prosecution in the recent past of members of the Macedonian minority for the public use of their mother tongue?

Is he aware that the Greek court deems that it unnecessary to prosecute the "vandals" who destroyed the Rainbow offices, despite the suit brought against them by party members?

Can he cite any text or vilifying statement made by Rainbow against the Greeks or our country? If he cannot, is he willing to make a public apology for his libel?
Perhaps the worthy composer sees as a vilification of our country Rainbow's views concerning the respect for the rights of the Macedonian minority in Greece?

Is Mr. Xarchakos aware that the number of votes that a party has does not determine the number of members in a minority? Is he aware that the number of members in a minority is determined by census, which Greece systematically refuses to carry out on this level?

Why doesn't he propose to our government to take a census containing questions about the mother tongue, the national consciousness, or the cultural diversity of the inhabitants of Greece?

Is Mr. Xarchakos aware that the "official" number of votes received by the Rainbow party in elections is triple that of the number of members of the Greek minority in Istanbul, the rights of whom he is so worried about in his question to the Commission?

Finally, does Mr. Xarchakos agree that those rights that the Greek minority in Istanbul or southern Albania enjoy or should enjoy are the same rights that the Macedonian minority in Greece should enjoy?

Is he willing to table a question with similar content to the Commission?

The Political Secretariat
RAINBOW