In February, Jürgen Pirker was elected as Austrian representative to the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Charter aims at the protection and promotion languages as part of the cultural heritage, democracy and cultural diversity in the member states. Since 1992, 25 states have ratified the Charter. The Committee of Experts takes part in the monitoring mechanism of the agreement.
Simultaneously, Prof. Klaus Poier (Institute for Public Law and Political Science) was appointed as Austrian expert for the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.