On his visit to the FUEN (Federal Union of
European Nationalities) in Flensburg the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe
argued for a strong protection of minorities on
a European level. According to Terry Davis,
minorities and nationalities are of great
importance particularly with regard to the
current situation in Georgia and in Kosovo. 

“FUEN‘s work as a civil society organisation of the minorities in Europe is of great importance. I really hope that the cooperation between the Council of Europe and the FUEN will be further strengthened in the future”, stressed Terry
Davis, who pointed out the relevance of
national balance for the future in Europe in his personal statement. 

The vice president of FUEN, Heinrich Schultz, started by welcoming the Secretary General to a round-table-discussion. Jan Diedrichsen, FUEN staff member, underlined the present work of the FUEN on the European level and pointed
out the particular relevance of the Council of
Europe for the work for minorities. 

The FUEN has a participatory status at the
Council of Europe, works for the INGO-
cooperation and just recently obtained an
ad-hoc-observer status at the DH-MIN committee for minority issues. Furthermore, FUEN is
engaged in the current preparations of the 10th
anniversary of the Framework Convention for
the protection of national minorities. 
Within the framework of the meeting between FUEN-representatives and the Secretary
General joint projects with the Council of Europe were discussed and further talks in Strasbourg were planned. 

Terry Davis, who had to shorten his visit because of the current situation in Georgia, concluded: “I will come again, soon.” 

Terry Davis became af patron of the annual minority-marathon YOU-MM thanks to Wolfgang Wodarg (member of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe and member of the
German Bundestag). 

The event was prepared in cooperation between FUEN and its member-organisations BDN and SSF of the German and Danish minorities. The Frisians, the Youth of European Nationalities (YEN) as well as several representatives from Denmark and Germany also participated in the round-table-discussion.