La Charte européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires et son mécanisme de suivi sont en vigueur depuis 1998, et la Charte a désormais sa place dans l'acquis conventionnel du Conseil de l'Europe. En France, cependant, l'interruption du processus de ratification de la Charte à la suite d'une décision du Conseil constitutionnel a suscité un vif débat. Faut-il protéger les langues régionales en France ? Comment la position de la France au sujet de la Charte doit-elle être comprise à la lumière de la progression des ratifications, y compris par la majorité des pays actuels membres de l'Union européenne ?
This publication considers the charter for Regional or Minority Languages from a legal perspective. It illustrates the charter ratification process in individual states, presents implementation case studies for some states parties, assesses the influence of this instrument on domestic law and the legal implications of non-compliance. Some papers also explore more general issues surrounding the charter, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of a broad interpretation of the undertakings of states parties and looking at the challenge of adapting this instrument to a changing society.
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has been in force since 1998, but in France it has caused a heated debate and it has not been ratified. The questions raised include: should French regional languages be afforded protection? Is there a danger that their protection could lead to an assertion of regional identity that could threaten the cohesiveness of the state? Is there a threat to the official language? Can applying the principles of the charter, without going through the ratification process, effectively protect regional or minority languages? This colloquy sought to provide answers to these questions.
The Charter is the only European legal instrument specifically designed to protect and promote regional or minority languages, making it the legal reference framework throughout Europe. This publication sets out an article by article commentary on the charter by one of Europe's leading experts on regional or minority languages, in order to explain the control mechanism's conclusions and to enable critical assessment of them.
The European linguistic diversity goes far beyond the official national languages of the present 27 member states of the European Union. In every country several languages of smaller or larger groups of speakers are used besides the official language or the languages of the majority population. These languages are autochthonous languages that have been used for a long time in the individual country as well as allochthonous languages of different groups of migrants and their descendants. The sometimes complicated relations between national, regional and minority languages within various countries are discussed in this volume. Besides reports on several countries, the general sociolinguistic and legal conditions are dealt with in overview contributions. In addition, the Dublin Declaration on the relationship between official languages and regional and minority languages in Europe is presented in 24 languages.