This paper is concerned with current developments in the European minority rights regime (EMRR) and its capacity to create and sustain social integration of ethno-socially diverse societies through minority participation in the political process. More recent documents outlining converging minority policies and integration strategies at the European Union (EU) level suggest a shift in the approach to minorities from a focus on minority protection to one on minority empowerment. In this paper I ask, first, if this shift really is substantiated by the respective documents, and second, if so, what are the implications for minority participation in social and political processes of EU member and applicant states. The paper proceeds in four steps. First, I outline the theory of multi-level governance that underlies the argument, emphasizing the interaction of supra-national, state and minority actors in varying figurations in the generation of nationally implemented policies. The EMRR, I suggest, is best understood from a perspective that incorporates actors at all levels of the policy process. Second, I discuss minority policies at state level, which have emerged in response to the pressures faced by the liberal nation-state in the context of domestic diversity and European integration. Third, I analyse current shifts in the framing of minority policies, largely driven by EU institutions. Fourth, I assess the implications of the emergent EMRR for the political participation of minority groups.
