February 2005

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MINORITY LANGUAGES IN FRANCE WILL HAVE TO WAIT

February 2005 – An attempt to modify the French Constitution in favour of France’s regional and minority languages was turned down on 26 January in the National Assembly. The amendments proposed were voted against by a margin of less than 20 votes: in the case of the first two amendments discussed, they were turned down with 46 votes against and 25 in favour (the first one) and 47 votes against and 30 in favour (the second one). However, it must be highlighted that out of the 577 seats of the Assembly, less than 80 deputies were present for the vote, which means that such amendments were rejected by only around 7.5 % of the deputies. The modification of the Constitution must now be approved by the Senate, where further amendments concerning language issues may still be introduced.

The amendments proposed aimed at modifying Article 2 of the Constitution, which establishes that “The language of the Republic is French”, and also Article 53, by making reference to the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by France. As regards Article 2, the amendment proposed by UDF (Union for French Democracy) intended to add the words “within the respect for regional languages”, while the one put forward by UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) read “within the respect for regional languages, which are part of our patrimony”. However, this is interpreted by many deputies as something in contradiction with the defence of the French language and even as a nostalgic move. As for Article 53, one amendment proposed intended to add a third paragraph, which would read as follows: “The French Republic may ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe”, while also a sub-amendment was presented, which added “within the respect of the first paragraph of Article 2”. But the attempts for the French ratification of the Charter are very often considered unconstitutional, especially since the Constitutional Council issued a resolution in June 1999 saying that the Charter would be contrary to the principles of indivisibility of the Republic, of equality before the law, and of unity of the French people. The rest of arguments used against and in favour of these amendments may be consulted in the proceedings of the parliamentary debate (see link below).

But in spite of all obstacles faced by minority languages in the National Assembly, not all news is bad news. The status of Breton, as well as that of Gallo, was significantly improved on 17 December 2004, when the Regional Council of Brittany voted in favour of “officially recognising, alongside the French language, the existence of Breton and Gallo as languages of Brittany”. A language plan was adopted for their promotion in several fields, such as education, the media, social and public life. The text of the plan, entitled “A language policy for Brittany” is available in the link below.