Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-13-Speech-2-363"
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"en.20040113.16.2-363"2
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"Madam President, I would like firstly, of course, to congratulate the rapporteur on her initiative, and also congratulate the Commissioner on her speech – and I have taken the liberty of taking some notes on her speech, which I will quote from her when talking about cultural diversity on other occasions.
I am speaking in this Chamber as a Spaniard, as a member of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats and as a Basque. I come from a country in which we have our own language, a native language in addition to Castilian, which is Basque, and which has a culture that goes back millennia, as does our language.
I agree with the rapporteur on the importance of preserving linguistic diversity. I also agree that we must monitor the treatment of minority languages, including autochthonous languages.
In an increasingly united Europe, in an increasingly globalised world, we must pay special attention to cultural diversity. The wealth of Europe – and what differentiates us from other regions of the world, as the Commissioner has said – undoubtedly lies in our cultural diversity, and we must try to export that model.
We must prevent the Union from becoming a means for standardisation, and I would like to point out that the preamble to the draft Constitution spoke of a ‘Europe united in diversity’.
Nevertheless, we must prevent the appropriation of cultural and linguistic diversity for political purposes. We must not accept the idea that the defence of language or culture, which belongs to all of us, can be used as a political weapon, a missile, or even a means for possible discrimination or division between us. Neither language nor the defence of language can be a reason for discrimination. Let us remember that this aspect is taken up in the draft Constitution. We must respect cultural and linguistic diversity, it is true, but we must not impose it. Respect for diversity also consists of respecting those people who speak another language.
Euskera must be preserved in the Basque Country, without question, but we must not impose it or discriminate against those who do not speak it. Certain nationalist parties who have tried to use language as a political tool have moved on from racial nationalism to linguistic nationalism. I believe that culture is the inheritance of all of us, we must all defend it and nobody must appropriate it for themselves.
Please allow me to end by quoting from the preamble to the Constitution which reads, ‘while remaining proud of their own national identities and history, the peoples of Europe are determined to transcend their ancient divisions and, united ever more closely, to forge a common destiny’."@en1
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