Abstract
The article deals with negative impact that a criterion of the existence of the mother country of a minority might have on the protection of national minorities. It works on the approach by the Council of Europe, particularly of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, to the conception of a national minority and its members.
Under this approach, the criterion of the existence of a mother country as a definitional feature of a national minority is deemed as a so-called suspicious criterion, in the consequence of which an undesirable distinction between individual minorities is made. This approach is based on the principles of universality, flexibility and equality.