Serbia should strengthen use of minority languages in education, public services and media

The committee of experts of the European Charter for regional or minority languages has published a new report, evaluating how Serbia has implemented its recommendations for immediate action provided to the authorities in 2023. It notes some positive initiatives, such as the introduction of the "National reader", a new mandatory teaching tool for all pupils of primary and secondary education that includes content on the tradition and culture of national minorities in Serbia, as well as some projects to promote minority languages in mass media. However, most recommendations made by the committee of experts have not been fully implemented.

Introduce bilingual education at all levels in Serbia

The committee notes that in several cases the Serbian national authorities have limited themselves to encouraging national councils of national minorities to implement the recommendations for immediate action. At the same time, due to underfunding and understaffing, the capacity of these councils to effectively promote the use of regional and minority languages in public life remains limited. While reiterating the need to continue to empower and fund the national councils, the committee points out that ultimate responsibility for implementing the charter lies with the national authorities.

In minority-language education, several languages (Bunjevac, Czech, German, Macedonian, Romani, Ukrainian, Vlach) continue to be taught exclusively or mainly in the framework of the subject "Mother tongue with elements of national culture" for two hours per week. As the committee previously observed, teaching a regional or minority language for only two hours per week does not meet the minimum requirements of the charter, especially where the language is not widely used in public and private life, including transmission in families. Among the models of minority language education in Serbia, only the model of bilingual education meets the minimum requirements of the Charter. Thus, the committee of experts encourages the authorities to take proactive steps, in cooperation with the representatives of the users of the regional or minority languages, to introduce bilingual education in these languages at all stages of education.

Contacting authorities through regional languages

One of the recommendations was to encourage speakers of Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian and Slovak to use their languages in contacts with local branches of state authorities and to facilitate drafting of documents in these languages. While there is a formal possibility to submit applications in minority languages to certain institutions (such as the tax authorities, police, labour inspectorate and pension fund), very few people used this option in 2022-25. A few state institutions issue documents in regional or minority languages (for example, identity cards or citizenship certificates in several languages), and some state buildings have multilingual signs. However, there is a considerable lack of administrative documents in these languages, including frequently used application forms, such as those for the driver's licence or residence registration.

The Committee reiterates that the use of regional or minority languages in contacts with authorities should be further encouraged through the introduction of bi- or multilingual documents, including in the e-government.

The evaluation further focuses on specific recommendations provided on the use of individual regional and minority languages (Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Bunjevac, Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Macedonian, Romani, Romanian, Ruthenian, Slovak and Ukrainian) in education, including teacher training, contacts with local branches of state authorities, and mass media.

The European Charter for regional or minority languages is the Council of Europe's convention designed to protect and promote states parties' traditional regional or minority languages and enable speakers of these languages to use them in both private and public life. Its implementation is monitored by an independent committee of experts. The treaty entered into force on 1 March 1998 and is now in force in 25 states.

Read the report in full

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