WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1682/96 by Jaak VANDEMEULEBROUCKE to the Council. Catalan
Date: 1996-06-24
Institutions: European Parliament, VANDEMEULEBROUCKE
Subjects: Catalonia, EP resolution, EU publication, education policy, language teaching, university













EUR-Lex - 91996E1682 - EN






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91996E1682

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1682/96 by Jaak VANDEMEULEBROUCKE to the Council. Catalan  


Official Journal C 385 , 19/12/1996 P. 0023 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1682/96 by Jaak Vandemeulebroucke (ARE) to the Council (24 June 1996)Subject: CatalanWhat measures has the Council taken in the light of the European Parliament's resolution of 11 December 1990 on languages in the Community and the situation of Catalan (A3-0169/90 ((OJ C 19, 28.1.1991, p.42.)) as regards:1. the publication in Catalan of the treaty texts,2. the use of Catalan for disseminating information on the European institutions,3. the inclusion of Catalan in programmes set up for teaching European languages?Reply (7 November 1996)1. As with all acts adopted by the European Parliament, it goes without saying that the Council has noted carefully the Resolution of 11 December 1990. However, it has to be recalled that according to Article 217 to the Treaty establishing the European Community and Article 190 of the EURATOM Treaty, the rules governing the languages of the institutions of the Communities are determined by the Council acting unanimously. These rules are laid down in Regulation No 1 of the Council of 15 April 1958, last amended when new Member States joined the Community in 1995, which enumerates the eleven official languages of the Communities.Furthermore, publication in the Catalan language has not been foreseen in Article S of the Treaty on the European Union nor in Article 248 TEC or Article 225 EURATOM Treaty.2. As in the reply given by the Presidency-in-Office of the Council to a previous question on the same subject raised by the Honourable Member, the Council reminds the Honourable Member that all matters relating to the publication or dissemination of Community texts of any kind - whether official texts or information texts - are the responsibility of the Commission.3. Catalan is not among the languages referred to in the Annex (Chapter III, Action 1, paragraph 1) to the Decision establishing the Community action programme "Socrates" ((Decision No 819/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 1995 (OJ L 87, 20.4.1995). )) as for teaching as a foreign language in the context of that programme. However, in line with the eleventh recital of the preamble to the Decision, Catalan may be regarded as a language which, without being an official language of the European Union, is recognized at national level and used to a significant extent as a teaching language in universities. It is specified that "teaching in these languages should offer possibilities for access to parts of the programme concerning higher education."Finally, it can also be mentioned that, following the subsidiarity principle, the common rules concerning the official languages of the Communities do not prevent Member States from taking any kind of measures on a national level to disseminate information on the European institutions in the official languages of their respective territories.