Bilateral Agreements in Central and Eastern Europe: A New Inter-State Framework for Minority Protection?
Publisher: ECMI Volume: 28 pages, pdf Description: The treaties on good neighbourliness and friendly co-operation between neighbouring countries in Central and Eastern Europe are framework treaties which envisage a large field of interstate co-operation (economic, commercial, cultural, environmental). On the one hand, they refer to the reinforcement of the existing state borders in an articulated way, in some cases accompanied by the explicit renunciation of the contracting parties to any future claims regarding each other’s territory. On the other hand, they establish commitments regarding the protection of their national minorities on the basis of international documents of the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe.