For example the largest umbrella organisation of the European minorities – FUEN (Federal Union of European Nationalities) – over and again fought for European minority protection and demanded that the European Union take responsibility for supporting the autochthonous minorities.

The EU Treaty explicitly mentions the minorities in Article 2:

“The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. [...]”

Another important article in this context is Article 3 (Aim of the EU), paragraph 3, which holds:

“It shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced.”

It is still unclear which legal and real effects the Lisbon Treaty will have on the situation of the minorities in the EU.

Before having a look on the new European Commission, which will have the new Treaty as basis for its work, we will look back.

In the Commission “Barroso I” (2004-2009) the issues of the European minority were repeatedly left outside with the justification that the Commission does not have the authority to deal within this field – it is an issue for the member states only. But in issues of regional and minority languages (RML) there would be little room for manoeuvre. For that reason the coming of a new Commissioner for Multilingualism, Leonard Orban, was welcomed with excitement, because he had the minority languages within his remit.

During his term of office Orban, who is from Romania, was not able to push through. His portfolio was seen soon as a makeshift by Barroso in order to be able to give each member state a Commissioner. As a result the Commissioner for “Multilingualism” was just a short intermezzo. The remit will go back to the portfolio Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. It will be led by the EU Commissioner from Cyprus, Androulla Vassiliou.

It would be too early to speak of a weakening of the position of the minority languages because of the loss of its separate but anaemic multilingualism portfolio. Now is the time to rethink – or to fall back on the European Parliament.

The most effective method to breath life into the language policy of the EU would be to take the so-called Ebner-report (written by former MEP Michl Ebner from South Tyrol) from the drawer and to implement the recommendations in it.

The resolution that proposes a European agency for linguistic diversity and language learning and a separate budget line, was adopted already in 2003 by more than two-third of the Parliament. But the EU Commission wanted something else – without being able to show any particular success until now. Now there is the opportunity to remedy this mistake.

For the European minorities the future lies in Luxemburg. Barroso divided the large portfolio of Home Affairs and assigned the portfolio of Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship to Viviane Reding, an experienced EU-politician from Luxemburg.

In the coming years it will become apparent if she can assert herself and give a voice to the autochthonous minorities. In the worst case the minority issue will end where it was left after the negotiations on the remit of the European Fundamental Rights Agency: at first the European minorities were not even included in the remit of the new agency (except for the issue of the Roma).

Viviane Reding would be wise to consult with the NGO-representatives and the members of the European Parliament about how European minority protections and support for the minorities in the EU could look like.

It will be interesting to see how the hearings of the new EU Commissioners in the Parliament scheduled for early January will turn out, because the Parliament will have to approve the EU Commission of Barroso II.

We may expect that especially the MEPs of the Intergroup for National Minorities will address questions to Commissioners Androulla Vassiliou and Viviane Reding.

Chaired by Csaba Tabajdi from Hungary (S&D) in a successful and engaged manner, the Intergroup raised its profile in the past parliamentary term. He established together with FUEN the European Dialogue Forum, a formalised discussion body of the minorities and the European Parliament.

The designated new chair of the Intergroup, Kinga Gál (EPP), who is also a Hungarian, already fought for the minorities during the negotiations about the European Fundamental Rights Agency and is known as a pragmatist. But also new MEPs like South Tyrolean Herbert Dorfmann (EPP), the MEP from the Swedish-speaking Finns Carl Haglund or Ulrike Rodust (S&D) from Schleswig-Holstein announced their will to engage in the field of minority policy and they will be able to show this during the hearings of the two new EU Commissioners.

The EU, with a new treaty as basis for its work and a new Commission full of energy to start working and an active Parliament, now has the possibility to take vital decisions for the European minorities.

Eight years of political struggle, setbacks and disappointments included, have come to an end for now. On Tuesday 1 December 2009 the Lisbon Treaty will come into effect and Commission President Barroso announced the 26 members of his team of Commissioners. They will – provided that they will get the approval by the European Parliament – control the fate of the European executive power in the coming five years.

For the minorities of Europe, as is generally known according to estimates of the EU around 45 million people in the 27 EU states in total, the process has been giving reason for much hope and much disappointment. For many minorities of Europe the EU offers a perspective beyond the narrow borders of the national state.