Czechia needs more structured action from national authorities to protect and promote minority languages, a Council of Europe expert committee has said.
A follow-up report published on Tuesday assesses whether Czechia has acted on 10 priority recommendations covering German, Moravian Croatian, Polish, Romani and Slovak, according to the committee of experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the CE press service reported.
The committee said the Czech authorities have signalled plans to hold further discussions on introducing teaching of Moravian Croatian, to plan measures linked to German, and to promote the use of Romani in different areas of public life.
However, none of the 10 priority recommendations has been implemented so far, it concluded.
Education and public services under scrutiny
National authorities do not appear to be closely supervising how other bodies — including public service broadcasters — apply the charter, the report said.
In education, teaching in or of minority languages is left to the initiative of school principals or individual schools, it added.
The committee’s earlier recommendations in 2024 included introducing teaching of Moravian Croatian, Romani and Slovak in mainstream schools, and making bilingual education in German available from pre-school through to technical and vocational levels in districts including Cheb, Karlovy Vary, Sokolov, Liberec, Ústí nad Labem, Český Krumlov, Opava and Svitavy.
Municipalities can voluntarily introduce place names in regional or minority languages, regardless of the proportion of national minorities in the local population, but local authorities rarely take such an initiative, the report said.
The committee also listed continuing legal shortcomings, including limits on the use of regional or minority languages in criminal proceedings.
Czechia’s commitments under the charter are obligations for national authorities to take “resolute action” to safeguard minority languages, the committee said, adding that many duties require more than simply allowing the languages to be used.
The Czech authorities are due to submit their next report on how the charter is being implemented by 1 March 2028, the CE said.
