In European Union territorial perspective ethnic minorities pass state borders. In the Adriatic and the Balkan area the key to development towards an integrated, harmoni-ous and sustainable socio-economic area is to be found in minorities’ bridging role. Often such role can be a cause for political confrontation, marginalization or, at worse, radicalization processes. The colourful ethnic landscapes of the Adriatic and the Balkan Peninsula embrace different minority groups (historical, national and/or new minori-ties). The Adriatic Area includes various but quite homogeneous ethnic groups, for historical, geographic and cultural reasons. Then again, the Republic of Macedonia as an example from the Balkan Region, shares the same characteristics. The paper fo-cuses on the main common issues, encountered in some Adriatic countries and in Re-public of Macedonia, such as language and self-representation rights. The complexity of the minorities’ situation in the selected areas requires a the use of the comparative methods, considering different perspectives in order to produce a joint approach, suit-able for elaborating and presenting some main perspectives and lessons to be learned; This study uses a secondary data analysis on legislative provisions in some countries of the Adriatic area (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro) and in the Republic of Macedonia as an advanced model of minority rights protecting in the Balkan Peninsula.