Strasbourg, 29.01.2024 – In a report published today, the Council of Europe´s Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages concluded that the Danish authorities continue to provide a high level of protection for the German language, which is the only regional or minority language protected under the Charter. However, the experts are calling for more efforts to raise awareness of the history, culture and language of the German speakers outside the Danish-German border area.

Following the increased migration of German citizens to Denmark and in order to facilitate their integration, the Committee is recommending more funding for translations of legal documents, as the use of German is almost invisible in the judiciary. In addition, bilingual place names should be displayed in the municipalities of South Jutland/North Schleswig.

With regards to media, the Committee notes that the use of German and the promotion of the culture and history of the speakers is hard to detect in public media as the speakers prefer to use the resources they are allocated to set up digital platforms and social media to promote German. The Committee of Experts therefore recommends to the authorities to increase awareness of German as a minority language in the media and to support the training of journalists and other staff for media using German.

Furthermore, the Committee of Experts acknowledged that the Parliament of Greenland is considering a consultation with the Danish authorities about the protection of the Greenlandic language in Denmark under the Charter.

The sixth evaluation report of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Languages is based on information provided by governmental and non-governmental sources, including that obtained during its visit to Denmark in June 2023. The evaluation report has been published together with comments from the authorities.