WRITTEN QUESTION E-1710/03

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 May 2003)

Subject: The European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL)

Recently, on 2 May 2002, I received a reply from the Commission to my question No E-1140/03(1). This reply did not contain answers to all the queries raised in my original question with regard to anti-Greek attacks contained in a book which was distributed by the EBLUL to MEPs (co-funded by the Commission, as mentioned on page 2). This book contains clear anti-Greek attacks both in the shape of advice and hints to Greece (page 6 and elsewhere) and in the form of the findings that in Greece there are Macedonian speakers (page 5), while the EBLUL President, Mr Brezigar, recommends (page 12) that Greeks should learn English as well as Macedonian (!).

Does the Commission agree with these attacks contained in the publication in question, which it funds itself? What is its position with regard to the vilification of an EU Member State by a bureau funded with EU resources? Why is funding being provided for a bureau circulating propaganda against a Member State? How does it intend to act to put a stop to the Bureau's vilification of Greece? Has it obtained the precise identities of the members of the EBLUL committees in every Member State, including Greece?

(1) OJ C 268 E, 7.11.2003, p. 176.

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(9 July 2003)

As the Commission has already pointed out in its answer to the Honourable Member's Written Question E-1140/03(1), the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) is an independent non-governmental organisation working in the field of languages and linguistic diversity. EBLUL is an international association established under Belgian law on 25 October 1919, (modified 6 December 1954). Its Statutes were published in the Moniteur belge of 7 November 1996 with the identification number 24581/96.

With respect to the admission of new Member State Committees, Articles 5 and 6 of the EBLUL Statutes state that any person or association may submit a written application for membership to the Board of Directors, which then refers to the General Assembly for consultation and a vote. A total of 13 Member State Committees representing 13 Member States voted in favour of the accession of the Greek Member State Committee to EBLUL in the General Assembly which took place on 15 June 2002 in Ljouwert (NL).

Member State Committees are autonomous bodies which seek to represent all the regional and minority languages spoken within an individual state's linguistic communities. Further information regarding the Member State Committees, including the Greek Committee, can be found on the EBLUL web site at the following addresses: http://www.eblul.org/pajenn.asp?ID=36&yezh=saozneg and http://www.eblul.org/pajenn.asp?ID=65&yezh=galleg&rumm=

The minority language groups in the Union were identified by researchers and the results published in 1996 in the Euromosaic study(2), as indicated by the Commission in its answer to the Honourable Member's above-mentioned question. On page 41 of the English version of this study a reference is made to the existence of Aromanian, Albanian and Slavo-Macedonian in Greece, each of which has an estimated number of speakers of between 50 000 and 80 000.

In its Resolution adopted in December 2001 on regional and lesser-used European languages, the Parliament called on the Commission to propose measures to promote linguistic diversity and language learning, with equal respect for the languages of the Union, with a view to improving mutual understanding and tolerance in a multilingual and multicultural Europe.

The need for action by the Union and the Member States to improve language learning and promote linguistic diversity was also recognised by the Education Council in February 2002. In its Resolution on the promotion of linguistic diversity and language learning(3) the Council invited the Commission to draw up proposals in this field by early 2003 and asked the Member States to take concrete steps to achieve that end.

(1) OJ C 268 E, 7.11.2003, p. 176.

(2) http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/langmin/euromosaic_en.html.

(3) OJ C 50, 23.2.2002.