EDITORIAL

In the present issue you will find a law adopted by the Maltese Parliament in July this year. It is the “Maltese Language Act” and it entails an important news: the creation of a new body, the National Council of the Maltese Language, with the aim of promoting this language and providing the necessary means to achieve this aim. Moreover, this act pursues the object of regulating the use of Maltese language through the Maltese State, which will promote through all possible means the widest use of the Maltese Language in domains such as education, media, and the economic and social life.

We also reproduce a selection of articles of the Citizenship Act of Estonia. In accordance with this Act, adopted in February this year, the knowledge of Estonian language becomes an important requirement for the acquisition of Estonian citizenship. However, apart from this Act, we also offer in the present issue of the Bulletin a selection of articles of the Law on Local Elections, passed in Macedonia in July this year, as well as two Regulations passed by the Estonian Parliament. One of these regulations is the Regulation on mandatory levels of proficiency in Estonian for public servants and employees of state agencies administered by government agencies and of local government agencies, employees of legal persons in public law and agencies thereof. The second one is a Regulation establishing the mandatory levels of proficiency in Estonian for employees of companies, non-profit associations and foundations and for sole proprietors. The latter aims at setting specific levels of language proficiency (basic, intermediate and advanced levels) among the different professional sectors of the active population.

As regards the international scenario, we draw the attention to the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, signed by the Heads of State of Government on 29 October 2004 in Rome. In a crucial moment such as the present one, in which the ratification stage of the Treaty has already started either through parliamentary ratification (E.g. Hungary) or via referendum (E.g. United Kingdom or Spain), we find of especial interest the fact of reproducing a series of articles of the Treaty, including the protocols incorporated in the Treaty, in which an explicit reference to cultural diversity or linguistic rights is made.
Furthermore, we publish the recommendations issued by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by Hungary, and we also include two resolutions by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by Azerbaijan and Poland. In the case of Azerbaijan, the Committee asks this country to carry out a series of legislative initiatives aimed at implementing the application of the Framework Convention, and urges the government of Azerbaijan to develop further the consultation structures for representatives of national minorities in order to improve their participation in decision-making. As for Poland, the Council of Europe acknowledges that this country has developed a series of legal and social improvements in order to protect its minorities, but it recommends, among other things, to progress in the audiovisual domain as well as in the education domain.

As regards Dossier no. 17, also included in the Bulletin, it is on the rules governing languages in the European Union. The dossier aims at giving an explanation on the current situation concerning the different linguistic status among the EU, as well as providing a global and complete approach of the rules governing languages in the different EU institutions. The dossier also provides an specific description for languages such as Irish, Galician, Basque and Catalan.