May 2006

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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT INTERGROUP DEMANDS THAT FRANCE RATIFIES THE ECRML, FCPNM AND THAT THE EU INTERVENE TO PROTECT MINORITISED LANGUAGES (Eurolang)

May 2006 - The European Parliament lesser-used language and national minority Intergroup met in Strasbourg with representatives from EBLUL France, comprising Bretons, Alsacians, and Occitans, and the Association of the French Regions. Following the meeting, Intergroup President and Hungarian Socialist Csaba Tabajdi (PES) issued a declaration demanding that France ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCPNM). Furthermore, Mr Tabjadi called for the EU to intervene to help the languages on French territory that are now facing endangerment because of State policies that have led to serious decline.

The declaration asks France to “fully recognize the right to the existence of the citizens and peoples which make it up in their specificity, in particular through a system of education, media and a public space allowing the normal expression of their languages, the teaching of their cultures and their stories in accordance with the of UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity and the Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions”.

The President of the Intergroup also challenges the Member States and the European Union over the urgency of the measures to be taken and on their duty to intervene in order to protect the languages spoken in the French territory, taking into account the weakness in which these languages are in France, and in particular of the fast disappearance of the older generation, who still largely speak these languages but who are not being replaced.”