Regionalism and Regional Self-Government as a Potential Answer to the Position of Ethnic Minorities in the South-East Europe

Most countries in Southeast Europe included in the analysis have a well-defined and broad normative framework for minority rights protection and have reached a high level of realization. The definition of the rights of national minorities and their implementation had and still have an important role in peacebuilding and democratization of these countries and in achieving their foreign policy goals. The introduction of minority protection standards is also connected with the broader process of Europeanization and the fulfillment of the conditions for membership in the European Union. Nevertheless, minority rights protection models vary across states. In some states of the region, there are various forms of non-territorial autonomy, while territorial autonomy was not considered a suitable model for accommodating minority interests and rights. Although in some of them, there are local and regional bodies that are associated with various forms of minority autonomy, they mainly serve as advisory bodies to the bodies of local and regional self-government units. This advisory role is often marginalized, meaning that these bodies have little influence on the decision-making process at the local and regional level. In this regard, there are certain exceptions, such as the self-governing communities of the Hungarian and Italian national minorities in Slovenia. They operate in local areas where these minorities are autochthonous, have an administrative function, and can be considered minority self-government. Additionally, in some countries, proportional representation in the representative bodies of local and regional self-government units, as well as representation in executive bodies, is enabled, thereby achieving greater involvement in political processes. The purpose of this chapter is to determine whether there are conditions for exercising the rights of national minorities through regionalism and (minority) regional self-government in the seven analyzed countries in Southeast Europe. In this regard, the advantages and disadvantages and the possibilities of applying different forms of territorial and non-territorial autonomy in these countries are analyzed, as well as the powers and limitations of already established bodies at the local and regional level.