Mr President, Commissioner Reding, ladies and gentlemen, I come from a country whose history over the last six hundred years has been closely linked to a knowledge of the foreign languages that are spoken in the most diverse parts of the world. The Portuguese have always had to learn the languages of the people with whom they were dealing and, in turn, they brought a European language, Portuguese, to the four corners of the world and it is spoken today by two hundred million people. The scope of an initiative such as the European Year of Languages 2001 is therefore quite clear to me, at a time when Europe is facing a new stage in its history and when we are all fully aware of the extraordinary wealth that the cultural and linguistic diversity of the European peoples represents. We also have a huge conceptual project which has been undertaken by the Council of Europe and by Parliament, and which holds the idea of the mother tongue to be one of every human being’s fundamental rights. It is in this context, in which history and civilisation, cultural processes and the drafting of laws, the primacy of the present and a necessary view of the future all merge, that the importance of the proposal that every citizen of the European Union should learn foreign languages is most clearly seen. The European Year of Languages is a campaign which contains a bold challenge and takes for granted the essential cultural dimension of our heritage, in both its oral and written forms, which has been expressed since time immemorial in all the languages spoken in Europe. It considers the knowledge of other languages to be intrinsic to the construction of a European citizenship, since it opens the door to a greater knowledge of other people’s cultures and encourages tolerance and peaceful coexistence. By doing so, it is also an important factor in combating racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other unacceptable forms of discrimination. Lastly, looking at the economic aspect, it contributes to the construction of a European citizenship by means of the range of professional qualifications that competence in other languages represents, by means of the access that it provides to scientific and technical knowledge and by means of the weapon it provides in the fight against unemployment. It was not only these concerns that were highlighted by the various amendments to the original text proposed by honourable Members of this House, but also those regarding a real policy in this area which, without infringing the subsidiarity principle, would ensure the quality and the effectiveness of the campaign to encourage language learning, as well as the diversity of target-groups, paying particular attention to the less favoured sectors of society. The approach adopted for the purpose of drafting the report for which I was responsible, and on which Parliament will vote tomorrow, was consistently to seek out the boundary between what would be acceptable to the various institutions involved and what would not. It did so both in a completely informal way and through intensive and varied meetings with the coordinators of the political groups represented within Parliament’s Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sports with representatives of the Portuguese Presidency and with the Commission. By these means, what we might call a compromise text was agreed, which gives every reason to suppose that a second reading and a conciliation procedure will not be necessary. In other words, a solution emerged which will enable the procedure to be completed at first reading and preparatory action for the European Year of Languages to be set in motion in the second half of this year, so that the programme will come into force at the beginning of 2001. I believe that the most serious difficulties will surely be cleared up in the statement which we all hope Commissioner Reding will make. This does not mean that this is the best of all possible worlds. We consider the financial means to be quite inadequate and we feel that there are actions resulting from the programme that we will have to gauge and develop. We also feel that there is another whole range of aspects that have been excluded, because they do not relate to a campaign for learning but to the status of European languages, which for some historical or political reason are less widely spoken or less favoured in some Member States. These points also require urgent consideration by the Community institutions. None of this, however, detracts from the fact that the compromise text contains enormous potential for positive results, and responds to a concern and a real need felt by the citizens of the European Union. It already covers, directly or indirectly, many of the general principles that must be enshrined in this area. For these reasons, and with my thanks for all the cooperation given to me by fellow Members, by the Portuguese Presidency and by the Commission, I am honoured to propose that we vote in favour of the joint proposal for a decision on the European Year of Languages, in the version contained in the compromise text, the main features of which I have just outlined.

Political group: PPE-DE