Shortcomings in European election information campaign in Finland

[Harold F. Schiffman]

EO/05/13

12 October 2005

Parliament acknowledges shortcomings in European election information
campaign in Finland

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has welcomed the
response of the European Parliament to his inquiry concerning its
information campaign in Finland for the European elections held in June
2004. This follows a complaint concerning Parliament's failure to publish
election posters in Swedish as well as in Finnish in the run-up to the
elections. In response to the Ombudsman's inquiry, Parliament agreed that
it would have been appropriate to publish the posters also in Swedish,
acknowledging that the proportion of the Finnish population which speaks
Swedish is not relevant to the status of that language as an official
language of the EU or to its status under the Finnish Constitution. It
promised that its information office in Helsinki would ensure that even
greater care will be taken in the use of languages in future information
campaigns.

Welcoming Parliament's decision, the Ombudsman said, "I have consistently
underlined the importance of making European citizens aware of their
rights under Community law in order to strengthen the protection of these
rights. One of the rights of EU citizens is to vote in elections to the
European Parliament. I am happy that Parliament has given assurances that
it will take greater care in the use of languages in future information
campaigns."

The case

In its complaint to the Ombudsman, the Swedish Assembly of Finland alleged
that the European Parliament failed to produce in Swedish posters
informing Finnish citizens about the European elections held in June 2004.
The Assembly pointed out that Finland has two official languages, Finnish
and Swedish, both of which are also official languages of the EU. It
argued that Parliament's stance, including its statement that Swedish
speakers only represent 5.6 % of the Finnish population, was not in tune
with Finland's constitution, which provides for equality between the two
official languages. The Assembly further noted that the equality between
the two languages is upheld in national elections in Finland and there was
therefore no reason to depart from this practice in European elections.

In its opinion on the complaint, Parliament stated that its Information
Office in Finland has a policy of working in both Finnish and Swedish when
providing services to, and answering inquiries from, Finnish citizens. As
regards the campaign for the 2004 European elections, some marketing
projects had been prepared solely in Finnish, one being the street level
poster campaign. This poster campaign did not, however, contain any new
information that had not already been provided in Swedish by other means,
it argued.

The Ombudsman recalled that Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union, as solemnly proclaimed by, among others, the
President of the European Parliament, prohibits any discrimination based
on language. He therefore insisted that the burden of proof lay with
Parliament to show that its language policy in this case was appropriate
and proportionate. The Ombudsman considered that Parliament's explanation
was not convincing and proposed a friendly solution whereby Parliament
would acknowledge the shortcomings of the campaign, as well as the fact
that the proportion of the Finnish population which speaks Swedish is not
relevant to the status of that language as an official language of the EU
or to its status under the Finnish Constitution. Parliament accepted this
friendly solution and promised to take greater care in the future, thereby
satisfying the complainant.

The Ombudsman's decision can be found on his website at:



http://www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int/decision/en/041737.htm For further
information, please call Ms Tina Nilsson, Legal Officer, tel. +32 2 284 14
17.

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=EO/05/13&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en