France and its minorities

The the Celtic League

The French Culture Ministry has responded to concerns expressed by the Celtic League. General Secretary of the Celtic League, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, had pressed the French government to give some indication when it would honour its commitments and fully implement the Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

The full response is set outbelow:

You asked the Minister of Culture and Communication about the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its implementation.

As you know, the Constitutional Council claimed that some of the Charter's provisions were against the Constitution. During the debate about the ratification of the Lisbon treaty, last January, some MPs presented some amendments aiming at the legal recognition of France's regional languages. These amendments were voted against. On this occasion, the Minister of Justice committed herself, on behalf of the government, to set up a parliamentary debate on the question of regional languages.

France's regional languages have been, however, valued in many different ways, as the action taken by the civil service has proven. This action has developed in a significant way over the last few years, as seen by the progresses done by the Ministry of Education in matters of teaching or by the part played by the general commission to French language and the languages of France within my services. This action comes within the scope of the European plurilingualism, around such priorities as the aid to publication, to live shows and multimedia creation, which appear high up on the list of priorities in matter of multilingualism during the discussion organised by France on 26th September under its European Presidency.

Yours faithfully Xavier North

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