JOINT STATEMENT OF COOPERATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL, MINORITY-, REGIONAL AND SMALLER-STATE LANGUAGES
Between the European Organisations: NPLD – Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity, and FUEN – Federal Union of European Nationalities.
1. Introduction
Multilingualism and linguistic diversity are essential and complementary elements of Europe’s identity and soul which can greatly contribute to the development of a sustainable Europe. 40 Million inhabitants in Europe speak a regional or minority language which accounts for around 10% of the EU’s population.
The NPLD and FUEN are committed to working together to promote CRSS and RML languages – they seek greater international recognition for these languages by raising awareness of the value and importance of the languages to Europe’s linguistic diversity and the opportunities they provide for social cohesion and economy.
2. Main objectives
We, the undersigned have agreed, on behalf of our respective organisations to:
- Defend the values set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, specifically Article 22 “The Union shall respect religious, cultural and linguistic diversity” ; and Article 3, Lisbon Treaty “It shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe’s cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced” , as well as the Barcelona Agreement, 2002 which supports the value of Mother Tongue Plus Two.
- Contribute to the aims of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which consider “that the protection of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the maintenance and development of Europe's cultural wealth and traditions” .
- Ensure that linguistic diversity – including CRSS languages/RML languages are mainstreamed across all relevant EU policies – including EU funding programmes – and that the interests of these languages are fully taken into account by policy-makers;
- Encourage the European Commission to adapt and open up EU support Programmes to support CRSS/RML languages, in particular within the next EU financial framework for 2014-2020.
- Share best practices in the CRSS /RML language communities across Europe;
The scope of collaboration will include, but not necessarily be confined to, the following themes:
- Jointly-provide intelligence to influence the EU Council, Member States, the elected European Parliament, the European Commission, as well as regional administrations, in particular by contributing collectively to public consultations on matters relating to language policy and linguistic diversity and provide written submission as and when required;
- Initiate a continuous strategic dialogue by means of exchanging information and documents, and holding meetings and discussions on relevant initiatives by the European Institutions with a view to presenting joint priorities;
- Effective involvement in the monitoring and reporting system of the Council of Europe, in order to strengthen the CRSS/RML languages;
- Introduce common proposals for further research in the field of CRSS/RMLs within the remit of the Framework of Research Programme of the Union respectively within the research programme of the Council of Europe;
- Exchange best practice in language usage, development and experience regarding policy making and language planning at all levels of governance;
- Communicate on the work being undertaken by each organisation to ensure that partners can benefit from each other i.e. participation at each other’s events/meetings/conferences.
Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN)
Schiffbrücke 41
24939 Flensburg
Germany
Tel: +49 (0)461 12855
http://www.fuen.org
info@fuen.org
Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD)
5-7 Market Chambers
St Mary Street
Cardiff
CF10 1AT
Wales, United Kingdom
Tel:+44 (0)29 2087 8041
http://www.npld.eu
post@npld.eu