Upholding cultural and linguistic diversity through education

Subject: Upholding cultural and linguistic diversity through education

Cultural and linguistic diversity is one of the cornerstones of the identity of European citizens and needs to be protected to avoid the erosion of traditional values. Multilingualism is considered to be an asset for Europe and a shared commitment for the EU. National education policies and legislation play a crucial role in this regard; however, it is deplorable that the EU institutions do not have adequate instruments and mechanisms to monitor, assess and improve national processes as regards upholding multilingualism through education.

How exactly is multilingualism being mainstreamed into EU policies and what steps is the EU taking to gather the views of minorities on respect for their linguistic rights?

What incentive measures can the Commission adopt in order to ensure that the Member States accept their responsibility to ensure multilingualism in society and protect the linguistic rights of minorities?

What instruments can the Commission apply in order to assess and, where necessary, establish respect for minorities’ rights in the field of education, and what future legislative and institutional developments are planned in this regard?

Answer given by Mr Navracsics on behalf of the Commission

(23 March 2018)

The respect for the ‘rights of persons belonging to minorities’ constitutes one of the founding values of the European Union and is foreseen in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.

Issues relating to the recognition of the status of minorities, their autonomy or the regime governing the use of regional or minority languages is a competence of the Member States. According to Article 51(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the provisions of the Charter are only addressed to the Member States when they are implementing EC law. It is thus for Member States to ensure compliance of fundamental rights in accordance with their constitutional order and their obligations under international law.

The Commission supports national authorities in this endeavour by supporting projects related to regional and minority languages through a variety of programmes, including in areas such as education and training, culture and youth.

The support of language learning and linguistic diversity is an overarching objective of the Erasmus+ programme. eTwinning, the online platform for teachers with over half a million registered users, allows language teachers to communicate, collaborate and develop projects in many different languages, including minority languages.

The recently adopted Commission Communication on ‘Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture’ (1) includes a proposal for a recommendation on how to improve language teaching and learning across the EU.

The Commission gathered important information on the issue of multilingualism in a broad public consultation carried out in 2017 on key competences, and through a stakeholder consultation meeting on 5 February 2018.

⋅1∙ COM(2017) 673 final. | | ( | | )