Major conclusions
of the symposium, held on May 6, 2003, European Parliament,
"What language policies for a multilingual European Union?"
or
"Shall we write the citizens' communication rights and duties into
a European Constitution?"
Under the chairmanship of the MEP, Michael Gahler, the
participants adopted at the end of the symposium the following principles:
- Everybody is free in the choice of the language for
communication with others, but, in the communication with public
services and authorities, everyone has to conform to the legal and linguistic
provisions that are applied at the place concerned. (territorial
principle).
- In the private sphere, everybody has the right to
communicate in the language of his/her choice, but, those standing
for election to public office should master communication in the local
language(s) and recognise the legal and linguistic provisions of the
place concerned. (principle of integration)
- In the field of private activities, everyone can
organise his/her communication in the language of his/her preference,
but, in dealing with public authorities, everyone's language
use (communication) has to be in conformity with the legal and linguistic
provisions in force at the place concerned (principle of local self-government).
- In the internal organisation of one's own business,
everyone is free to determine the language of communication, but,
in applying for a job, everyone has to meet the professional requirements
including the necessary linguistic qualification for communication required
for the activity concerned by the employing firm, association or institution
(principle of professional qualification).
- Communication within public services and administration
in Member States depends on the legal and constitutional framework of
the country concerned. (principle of subsidiarity).
- Communication of the Institutions of the European
Union should be non-discriminatory, rational and efficient; therefore,
as general guideline it can be said that external communication towards
the citizen and within the framework of a political mandate has to cover
all official languages of the Union, while internal communication needs
a common means of communication; as long as such a working language
consists of a national language, discrimination in communication persists.
(distinction between external 'citizen' communication and internal
'professional' communication)
- As long as discrimination in the internal communication
of the institutions of the Union does exist, the competent bodies at
the Union level and the education authorities in the Member States should
undertake research in the field of a non-discriminatory system such
as a universal language model (planned language), its conditions, capacities
and limits, to support feasibility studies and to facilitate language
experiments with view to ultimately resolving the remaining discrimination
in internal and inter-ethnic communication. (principle of equality
and non-discrimination)
- Finally, it is in the responsibility of the competent
authorities in the Member States and of the competent bodies at the
European level to co-ordinate best practices in this field, to organise
the necessary language instruction in schools, to offer and guarantee
diversity in language learning, and, finally, to safeguard the cultural
and linguistic identities within this multilingual Union. (principle
of diversity in unity)
As to specific results, the participants wish
- to inform the EU citizen about his/her rights and
duties in communication in this multilingual Union,
- to remind the members of the Convention about major
principles which should be enshrined in a European Constitution as to
communication rights and duties in a multilingual community like the
European Union, and,
invite all politicians and competent authorities in the Member States
and at the European level
- to investigate the concept of a 'neutral' multilingualism,
- to initiate feasibility studies in the field of a
common non-discriminatory communication language,
- to support language experiments, notably in schools,
in order to learn the first foreign target language better and more
quickly, and,
- to create an observatory for monitoring the evolution
in language use (communication) in the Union and the protection and
safeguarding of cultural and linguistic identities in the Member States.
A more detailed summary of the symposium will be available soon on the
internet: www.europe-citizen.net !
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