Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-04-Speech-4-010"
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"en.20030904.2.4-010"2
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"Mr President, it is commonly accepted that European cultural diversity is closely linked to linguistic diversity, which makes a significant contribution to our very perception of the world, to expression and creativity. This is something which is also included in the draft Constitutional Treaty and we are particularly satisfied with that.
Maintaining linguistic diversity, as expressed through support for lesser-used languages, contributes, apart from anything else, to social cohesion, to preventing conflicts and, of course, should not in my opinion operate along lines of quantitative parameters, along lines of majorities and minorities. I take the same view of minority languages. They have an intrinsic value and should be dealt with as such.
There are in fact millions of Europeans who, alongside the official language of their country, speak a minority language, mainly within their communities, and this is a tradition from generation to generation which we all respect. That is why it is important for cultural ties to be used creatively for the purpose of communication and exchanges and not, of course, to isolate a community; this would be particularly negative and we have seen it happen in the past. It is therefore important for our strategies as regards minority languages to be characterised by an open spirit of cooperation, by scientific research and association with the wealth of cultural elements which surround them. Promoting cultural cooperation and exchanges is the best way of offering the public the area of European culture we all want to create.
In the present era of globalisation, concentration of resources and the prevalence of monolingual situations, maintaining minority languages must be addressed as a source of primary elements which have the freshness and verve to claim their expression over time, despite their limited extent. However, it should be stressed that it is only by opening these cultural communities up to dialogue that we shall find a fruitful solution. That is why I think that the Commission study is important and we await its results with great interest."@en1
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