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Venice Commission to Pronounce on Language Law Next Month
Sunday 12 September 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, September 12 (TASR) - The European Commission for Democracy Through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, is due to meet on October 15 and 16 in Slovakia to pronounce on the State Language Act and its implementation rules, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has announced.
Slovakia asked the Commission for its legal stance back in September of last year when an amendment to the State Language Act that came into effect at the start of the month touched off many disputes. Financial penalties instituted by sanctions attracted the most criticism.
The commission members arrived in Slovakia in January and met Slovak officials and representatives of ethnic minorities and civil society. Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) High Commissioner Knut Vollebaek, who visited Bratislava twice because of the amendment, hailed the drive to bolster the use of the state language, but stated that this should be done without diminishing the exercise of minority rights.
Premier Iveta Radicova's Cabinet pledged in its Manifesto regarding the state language to remove senseless restrictions and limitations in ethnic minority-related laws. The Culture Ministry is currently working on an amendment to the law.
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