Releasing its third report today on Austria – with Austrian government comments – the Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities praised efforts in the area of bilingual primary education in Burgenland and Carinthia, but pointed out gaps in other areas.
 

Gaps include scarce opportunities for bilingual education beyond primary level, lack of minority languages in the media, and no moves to widen the remit of national minorities’ advisory councils. A political agreement on bilingual street signs in Carinthia has been reached, but falls short of the Constitutional Court's recommendation on the subject. The Committee also reports that Roma continue to face substantial difficulties, particularly in the job market and equal access to education.
 

The Committee calls for consistent efforts by Austria to amend national minority laws in consultation with national minorities, ensure linguistic rights and develop a new system for the composition of the minority advisory councils to make sure they represent the interests and concerns of the communities.(more...)