The Treaty of Lisbon and Beyond: The Evolution of EU Minority Protection?

This article argues that the post-Lisbon EU legal framework better equips the European Union
to be more receptive towards the protection of diversity than was the case in the pre-Lisbon
European Union. The relevant aspects of this new framework comprise new EU legal
sources, new legal provisions and new directions in interpretation of EU law. Nonetheless,
this article also notes several remaining limitations. Among others, minority protection in EU
law is largely dependent upon the standards of protection given (or not given) to minorities
within the European Convention on Human Rights system, and most significantly, within state
systems. This dependency severely curtails the autonomous development of a genuine and
credible EU minority protection policy.