LL-L "Language politics" 2005.06.17 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 17.JUN.2005 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language politics

Folks,

Simone Klinge of EUROLANG NEWS has disseminated another installment of
briefs.  Here is one of them:

<quote>
BREAKTHROUGH IN EU STATUS FOR ‘OFFICIAL’ LESSER-USED LANGUAGES
Brussel / Bruxelles 6/14/2005 by Davyth Hicks
     Following the Spanish proposal of December 2004, the European Council
of Foreign Ministers decided yesterday in Luxembourg to allow the usage of
all official lesser-used languages in European institutions. The decision
stands as a Council ‘conclusion’ and marks a breakthrough in status for many
of Europe’s lesser-used languages. It means that they can be used at Council
meetings, by the Commission, that legislation will be translated into the
lesser-used language, and that speakers can write using their own language
to EU institutions.
</quote>

It will be interesting to see how this will play out in reality, especially
for languages of the "lesser" classification "regional" (e.g., Low Saxon and
Limburgish).  In the full version of the article it says, among other
things:

<quote>
 The languages affected are only those with legal status in their member
state and include Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Basque and Catalan, for example.
It will exclude languages without legal status in their state such as Breton
and Occitan.
      Citizens will be able to correspond with the EU institutions in these
languages, legislation adopted by co-decision by the European Parliament
(EP) and the Council will be translated and publicised, and the languages
will be used in debates at Council level - and eventually in the EP and the
Committee of the Regions.
</quote>

Yeah! Merci, France!

And here's the "but," the disclaimer:

<quote>
However, an EU Council spokesperson confirmed to Eurolang on Tuesday that
the Council conclusion does apply to all languages with ‘official’ status.
The conclusion defines these ‘official’ languages, other than member state
languages, as those that "have a status recognised by the constitution of a
Member State on whole or part of its territory or of which the use as a
national language is authorised by law".
</quote>

More details and also articles dealing with Gaelic, Welsh, Irish, Cornish
and Breton: http://www.eurolang.net

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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