Bulgaria plans to join the EU in 2007. "It is our priority, now that our security is covered by NATO," Simeon Sakskoburggotski (former King Simeon II), the Bulgarian PM, said during his recent visit to Italy.

Several EU leaders have reiterated that Bulgaria, Romania and four or five other Balkan states will be on the enlargement list after 2004.

Those countries have always been extremely dangerous for peace and stability in Europe, which is why they must be roped in as soon as practicable.

One of the hottest issues in all of them is the treatment of minorities, which abound there like an inextricable amalgam, a veritable stumbling block to peaceful living. We all know what happened in Kosovo, Bosnia and Macedonia.

The Project on Ethnic Relations (PER; www.per-usa.org), founded in Princeton in 1991 and generously funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, is very active in addressing ethnic problems in the Balkans. It organises regular high-level talks among rival communities to prevent tension from growing and help solve conflicts. PER does this with the blessing of high American authorities.

The meetings held in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, in June and December last year, were somewhat different. They were held to assess and applaud the progress made on relations between the Bulgarian people and the Turkish minority in their midst. PER has just published a well-written, 39-page report on the subject: The Bulgarian ethnic experience (obtainable from per@per-usa.org).

Bulgaria's population is made up of 6,850,000 ethnic Bulgarians, 745,000 citizens of Turkish origin, and 370,000 gypsies. The Turks, therefore, amount to almost ten per cent of the population. The Roma (gypsies) are six per cent.

The Turkish community has suffered a lot in the recent past because, after having dominated the country for centuries, they were not exactly well-liked. Suffice it to say that in the 1980s, some 350,000 Turks fled Bulgaria to settle in their mother country to avoid the hard-hitting repression launched by the Communist regime.

The situation changed in 1991, after the collapse of Communism. The Turkish community in Bulgaria organised the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and, instead of seeking revenge, intelligently avoided any violent approach in its relations with the Bulgarian majority.

It adopted a collaborative approach, contributing even to the election of ethnic Bulgarians to important posts. This attitude was consistently encouraged by the Turkish authorities in Ankara - a far cry from the way other countries behaved with their compatriots abroad.

In the 1991 political elections, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) won 110 seats, the Bulgarian Socialist Party 106 seats, and the MRF 24. As the two major parties were not even on speaking terms, the MRF supported the UDF but, knowing that Bulgarian society was not ready for drastic democratic changes, the MRF leaders did not even request a single high office for their MPs.

The situation is very different and much better now. The present coalition government is made up of the Simeon II National Movement and the MRF, which has ministers and other high-ranking officials in the country's administration.

Problems do exist, of course, and the Turkish minority is still practically barred from posts of responsibility in the military and diplomatic services. The Turkish leaders still claim certain fundamental rights, but without resorting to threats or violence. The end result is in their favour. They finally get what they want.

This is being called the "Bulgarian model of good practice" in minority affairs. It seems to me that the merit should go mainly to the Turkish community leaders, rather than the Bulgarian authorities. But probably to both.

Surely they both know that EU membership will help solve outstanding issues. The EU in fact insists that prospective member states ensure peaceful coexistence and collaboration between the different ethnic components.

The Turkish minority representatives at the PER meetings expressed the wish that their successful experiment be better known, appreciated and supported abroad. That's the reason for this note.

Language learning in Verona

Silvio Pontani has set up an association of language schools in Verona. Alliance Francaise, the British Institute, Big Ben School, Oxford School, Veronalingue and six other schools have joined (www.assolingue.it).

The new association organised a three-day conference earlier this month, with several local and foreign speakers. The event included film shows, lectures in various schools and visits by students and adults to language schools and labs.

It was supported by the Milan office of the European Commission and the regional and local educational authorities. The aim was to highlight the opportunities of language learning in Verona.

The latest issue of Europa Vicina, a review edited by Mr Pontani, carries an article by Sylvia Vlaeminck, who is in charge of the European Commission's language policy section, and another by John Mangion.

The former announced the forthcoming publication of a report on the European Year of Languages and of a new Action Plan; the latter suggested that an enlarged EU will probably decide on a limited number of working languages to curb the exorbitant cost of translation and interpretation.

Other articles are by Shelag Rixon on teachers' exchanges in the EU by Robert Seager on teaching languages to children, and by Marina Burei and Hannelore Reinhard on teaching languages to the "over-50s".

Journalist Rosanna Cassano writes on films as a tool for language learning, and suggests that films like About a Boy, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, A Passage to India, Howard's End, Notting Hill, Trainspotting and The Commitments can be useful, depending on the viewers' aims and abilities.

The Baroque in Sicily and Malta

Baroque architecture, art and literature spread in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries to celebrate the optimism ushered in by the Renaissance and the great geographical discoveries.

Rome, Madrid, Vienna, Prague and other capitals were enriched with beautiful churches and palaces.

A national seminar was held in Rome earlier this month on noble palaces in Italian regions. Three volumes - on Rome, Puglia and Calabria - of the envisaged 30-volume Atlante del Barocco in Italia were launched.

Professor Marcello Fagiolo is in charge of the Atlante, which is supported by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

The Centro Internazionale di Studi sul Barocco, led by architect Lucia Trigilia in Syracuse, has just published its Annali del Barocco in Sicilia. This issue is dedicated to the European capitals of Baroque.

There is an article by Denis de Lucca on Valletta and Mdina, showing how these two small Baroque capitals were brought about by the urbanisation and cultural changes fostered by the Knights. Trigilia compares the restructuring of architecture in south-east Sicily and Malta after the 1693 earthquake.

David Mallia writes on the pastoral visits as a source of Maltese architectural history, focusing on the village of Gharb, whose parish church was influenced by Borromini's S. Agnese in Agone, the architect, Giuseppe Azzopardo, having studied at the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome.

Other articles are by well-known experts like the late Salvatore Boscarino (on the characteristics of Sicilian Baroque), Antonio Bonet Correa (on the Buen Ritiro, the Spanish kings' second residence), Jorg Garms (on some Baroque cities in Austria and Germany) and Francesca Gringeri Pantano (on church building in Avola).

The University's International Institute of Baroque Studies, led by Professor de Lucca, is doing well. It runs the MA course in Baroque Studies, where a good number of students have already qualified.

It runs also a diploma course and a pre-tertiary certificate course in Baroque Architecture on behalf of the Works Division of the Ministry for Infrastructure. It collaborates with Italian institutes, and with Maltese authorities in charge of projects involving Baroque architecture, sculpture or urban layout.

The board, chaired by Rev. Professor Peter Serracino Inglott, meets regularly to plan the institute's activities.

Electoral register

The Jesuits last week reminded us of our duty to vote in the referendum on EU membership. But some citizens are being deprived of that right and duty for not having resided in Malta or Gozo for 180 days in the 18 months preceding September 30.

Cannot political parties and MPs agree to modify the law and issue an update of the electoral register as close as possible to the referendum? It is strange and undemocratic that law-abiding Maltese citizens genuinely residing in Malta should be unable to vote.

A single citizen unfairly precluded from voting is one too many.

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