Symposium
of May 6,2003 on
"What language policies for a multilingual European Union?"
or
"Shall we write the citizens' communication rights and duties
into a European Constitution?"

Opening address

by Mr. Willy DE CLERCQ, Member of the European Parliament

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,

As one member of Parliament who supported this initiative, I have the honour to open this symposium.

There are, in fact, two questions we are asked to deal with today:
First, "What language policies do we need for a multilingual European Union?" and, second, if we have found some guidelines or principles for these policies,
"Do we have to write, especially in the case of a multilingual community like the European Union, the citizens' communication rights and duties into a common Constitution?", or, at least, some principles, which every citizen should know in relation to language use when he or she is travelling, working or settling somewhere on the territory of the EU.

Therefore, the organisers consider this symposium also as a contribution to the discussion going on in the Convention on the future of Europe, or, at least, as an attempt to break the silence in the discussion about citizen rights and duties in language and communication matters in the future European Constitution.

For helping us to give comprehensive answers to these questions, we have at our disposal experts in language rights, interlinguistics and language teaching. Each of them will summarise in 15 minutes the major messages of their written contributions, most of these documents could have been consulted already on the internet; thus, we will have, for each group of contribution, between 15 and 30 minutes time for the exchange of ideas or the discussion about different opinions.

This brings us, in the first part of the symposium, to look at constitutional language rights in multi-cultural states and into the "reality" in this field within the EU. In contrast to the concept of a "one language constitution", we are confronted in a multinational community like the European Union with the aspect of language use - what finally is nothing more than communication - between people having different mother tongues.

We will then have to define, what do we mean with "Multilingualism" and in which cases there is an evident "discrimination in language use".
Furthermore, we have to look into the language options which do - from the theoretical point of view - exist in a multilingual Union, and, how far the theoretical results can finally cover with the reality in our Union?

At the end of this morning, we want to know about the responsibilities of Member States in language learning, before we are going to look then, in the second part of the symposium, in the afternoon, into possible and practical solutions in form of principles for safeguarding cultural identities and diversity in this language learning.

How far planned languages can take over functions in efficient language teaching and in an effective and non-discriminatory communication will be, for many of us, a new and challenging field of concern.
At the end of the afternoon we ask "What kind of the priorities do we need in the language and communication policies within the EU?" - On the basis of discussion documents prepared by working groups, we have the possibility in looking closer into the need for research, eventual feasibility studies and language experiments.

Whether there this symposium comes out with "a cry" for formulating the citizens' communication rights and duties in the Constitution of the multilingual Union, or, with some simple conclusions in form of principles in communication which every citizen should know in a multinational Community, this will, in the end, be up to the participants of this symposium.

I wish you an interesting day and personal conclusions out of this symposium which can be considered, at least, as long-term solutions in the field of communication within a multilingual Union.
I hope that we can contribute today some stones to those linguistic bridges which can not only realise but also safeguard in the long run one of our great ideals in European unification:

"Unity in diversity" or "Diversity within Unity"!

After these introductory words, I ask the representatives of the associations and groups who have prepared this symposium, whether they want to add something to these preliminary remarks?

Brussel/Bruxelles, 6.5.2003