ИЗГРАЖДАНЕ НА ЕВРОПЕЙСКОТО РАЗБИРАНЕ ЗА ПРАВАТА НА НАЦИОНАЛНИТЕ МАЛЦИНСТВА – АСПЕКТИ НА КОНЦЕПТУАЛИЗАЦИЯТА
BUILDING A EUROPEAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATIONAL MINORITIES RIGHTS - CONCEPTUALISATION ASPECTS

Summary/Abstract: One of the remarkable achievements of the past 20th century was the European conceptualisation and refinement of the understanding of the protection of the rights of national minorities. Within the 20th century, the thesis of national minorities was not only born, but also underwent a kind of meaningful evolution. The analysis shows that, albeit tentatively, three stages of its development can be identified. The first stage is connected with the end of the First World War: then this question was raised with all seriousness and established in international law and political practice. The other has to do with the end of the Second World War: national minorities became the focus of public attention, new understandings of their rights and free way of life were a natural counterpoint to the anti-human fascist theories and practices of the previous period about the chosenness of one nation (Aryans) and the needlessness of other nations (Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, etc.). The last period reflects the historical events of the end of the 20th century - the problem of national minorities is actualized and becomes the center of public discussions. In fact, since the end of the twentieth century, the European understanding of the rights of national minorities has increasingly reflected the view that the preservation of minority rights means the protection of individual human/citizen rights and freedoms. In turn, individual human/citizen rights are primarily related to forms of identity, i.e. the consciousness of belonging - ethnic, linguistic, religious. Thus, the issue of the protection of national minorities, on the one hand, becomes part of the more general European concept of the preservation of individual human/citizen rights, but it also reflects the problem of types of identities, i.e. the principle of self-determination. This interpretation - it turns out - acts as a protective barrier against attempts by the state, within which national minorities objectively exist, to take repressive or restrictive measures against citizens of minority origin, affecting their identity and rights related to language, religion and culture. On the other hand, the European understanding of national minorities prevents attempts to discriminate on the grounds of race and origin. For the evolution of the European understanding of the rights of national minorities, the creation and historical development of individual human rights and minority institutions have been important. It is well known that immediately after the Second World War the first post-war continental organisation was established - the Council of Europe. Later, with the development of the European Union, the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other organisations, the problem of the rights of national minorities was fully developed. At the Vienna Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the member states of the Council of Europe (8-9 October 1993), a decision is taken to draw up a Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Under the universal approach (that of the UN), the protection of minorities is built on individual rights. The CoE's attempts at some final solutions (e.g., the Additional Protocol on National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages), based on the dominant collective nature of these rights, have not been successful at this stage. And this shows that this matter is delicate and it is essential to take into account a number of factors in its interpretation. As a concrete example of the realization of the European understanding of national minorities one can trace the environment in which the Bulgarian communities in the Balkans exist, the means through which they preserve their national identity and the approaches through which the common integration in the host country is realized.

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