Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-23-Speech-1-204"
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"The Commission Communication entitled ‘Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment’ follows on from an already long series of documents produced by Parliament, the Commission, the Council, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee, in which the issue of multilingualism is tackled from various angles.
Mr President, the European Union must be a place of respect for democracy and pluralism, not a place of exclusion or unreasonable curtailment of fundamental rights and freedoms.
In my report, I reiterate the positions previously adopted by the European Parliament and generally endorse the Commission’s view that the linguistic and cultural diversity of the EU constitutes an enormous competitive advantage and that there is a need for full support for language teaching and exchange programmes in the educational and cultural spheres, both inside and outside the Union.
I also highlight the importance of language as a factor of social inclusion. I confirm the importance of dialogue with other regions of the globe, paying attention to the specific links existing in terms of language, history and culture between the countries of the EU and third countries. I indicate the need for policies supporting translation, both literary and technical. I tackle the issue of multilingualism in the audiovisual sector, the need to support language teachers, and the extension of language competence indicators to all the official EU languages, without prejudice to their also being extended to other languages spoken and studied in Europe, including classical Greek and Latin.
With regard to the teaching of languages, both at school and in adulthood, I maintain, among many other aspects, that education in the mother tongue is fundamental to all other teaching. Parents and guardians must be able to choose the official language in which their children are to be educated in countries with more than one official language or where an official language and regional languages coexist. I also maintain that no schoolchild should be deprived of education in the official language of the state.
I would underline that at no point in my report is the importance of regional or minority languages disputed. I clearly recognise and respect these languages and at no point try to obstruct them. There is not one aspect of my report which is incompatible with these languages. However, an alternative proposal has been tabled by Socialist, Liberal and Green Members, which quite simply omits the three points that I have just mentioned.
As a result, principles which are connected with fundamental rights and people’s freedoms and which for a long time have been enshrined, accepted and practised in the European Union are about to be eliminated due to pressure from Galician, Catalan and Basque nationalists. If this alternative proposal is adopted, the European Parliament will have given way.
These intentions are perfectly clear. In today’s edition of the Spanish newspaper
you can read on page 37 that, just three months ago, the Supreme Court decided that a box should be included on the pre-enrolment form, asking parents in which language they want their children to receive their primary education, which is something that the Catalan Government has not done.
I do not feel that this alternative should be accepted. In contrast to the points made in my report, it results in unacceptable protection of extreme nationalist tendencies and also unacceptably contradicts our fundamental rights and freedoms and even the principle of subsidiarity, not to mention that this alternative is also contrary to principles that are already enshrined in previous texts of the European Parliament and the Council and that have never been called into question.
I therefore urge this House to be very careful. The alternative tabled must be rejected and my report must be adopted, as occurred in the Committee on Culture and Education on 17 February, with 20 votes in favour, 3 against and 8 abstentions."@en1
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