Subject: International Mother Language Day – let’s make the European Union genuinely multilingual
According to UNESCO, there are over 6 000 languages in the world. If nothing is done, 50 % will disappear in 100 years.
In the EU there are 24 official languages, and also 60 regional or minority languages. The latter are spoken by about 50 million people but have no official status at state or European level 1 .
Multilingual Member States tend to promote only one of their languages. For instance the new Spanish government has approved new laws that promote cultural events only in Spanish, thereby discriminating against Catalan, Galician, Basque, Asturian, Aragonese and Occitan-Aranese speakers, who account for 17 % of the population 2 .
In the framework of efforts to bring the EU closer to its citizens, the richness of its linguistic diversity must be taken into consideration in order to strengthen their identification with the European Union’s political project. Yet European laws constantly discriminate against 50 million citizens as most of directives only cover official languages, such as directives on labelling.
Languages play a vital role in ensuring cultural diversity, building inclusive societies and preserving cultural heritage.
On International Mother Language Day 3 , what is the Commission’s commitment to these 60 regional or minority languages?
What steps is the Commission planning to ensure the inclusion of these 50 million people?
1 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/EPRS-Briefing-589794-Regional-minority-languages-EU-FINAL.pdf
2 https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/que-fem/noticies/4627/el-nou-govern-del-psoe-i-podemos-promou-
exclusivament-el-castella
3 https://www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day
Answer given by Ms Gabriel on behalf of the European Commission
(16 June 2020)
According to Article 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the respect for the rights of persons belonging to minorities constitutes one of the founding values of the EU. Articles 21 and 22 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU prohibit discrimination based on membership of a national minority and provide for the respect by the Union of cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.
However, the Union has no general powers as regards minorities within Member States, nor has it competence over the use of regional or minority languages. It is up to the Member States to use the appropriate legal instruments in order to guarantee that fundamental rights of national minorities living on their territories are protected in accordance with their constitutional order and obligations under international law, including the relevant instruments of the Council of Europe.
The Union supports linguistic and cultural diversity and promotes the teaching of at least two languages in school. It supports and complements national educational policies aimed at reaching this objective. Projects involving regional languages are eligible for funding under both the Erasmus+ programme and EU funding programmes in the field of culture.
The Commission has published a brochure (4), highlighting how regional or minority language projects have benefitted from co- financing from EU education, youth, sport and culture programmes. The publication illustrates how the EU contributes to the inclusion of speakers of such languages.
⋅1∙ https://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/EPRS-Briefing-589794-Regional-minority-languages-EU-FINAL.pdf
⋅2∙ https://www.plataforma-llengua.cat/que-fem/noticies/4627/el-nou-govern-del-psoe-i-podemos-promou-exclusivament-el-castella
⋅3∙ https://www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day
⋅4∙ ‘Linguistic diversity in the European Union — the case of regional and minority languages’. Publications Office of the European Union 2018,
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/371430cc-f2c1-11e8-9982-01aa75ed71a1