December 2004

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ANDORRA AND THE EU AGREE ON CULTURAL CO-OPERATION

December 2004 — The situation of the Catalan language in Europe could substantially improve due to the step made by Spain (it has been the first state to make use of the possibility that the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe be also “translated into any other languages as determined by Member States”) and also thanks to the historical cooperation agreement recently signed by the Principality of Andorra and the European Union.

So far, the links between the EU and Andorra were reduced to a customs convention signed in 1990. However, the new agreement establishes a co-operation in the regional, environmental and cultural domains. Structured in fifteen articles and covering over six different areas, the agreement sets specific actions aimed at protecting and disseminating the Catalan language. In particular, article 3 sets that these actions can be translated into cultural exchanges, the preservation and the promotion of Andorra’s cultural heritage, or the establishment of transfrontier research programmes aimed at disseminating history, arts or the Catalan language.

This agreement constitutes the first time that the European Union considers the possibility of giving explicit aid to the Catalan language. Actually, as expressed in the agreement, article 3 is inspired in article 151 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which sets that “the Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore”.

Moreover, the text of the recent agreement between Andorra and the EU has been written in Catalan, as well as in the 20 official languages and, therefore, it will be an authentic text. Consequently, except for the customs convention signed in 1990, this constitutes the only legal text with authentic value in the European Union, since the translations of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe do not contain this legal value, as the translations have not been signed by the competent European authorities.

The agreement was signed by the former Member of the European Commission responsible for Education, and Culture, Viviane Reding, the Andorran Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juli Minoves, and the Dutch Minister of Culture of the EU Dutch Presidency, Maria van der Hoeven.