Request for the place names La Coruña and Orense to be replaced by the officially correct form A Coruña and Ourense

31.10.2011

Question for written answer E-010229/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Oriol Junqueras Vies (Verts/ALE)

The place names given for two cities in Galicia in the maps provided in Annexes I and II, Volume 16, of the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Union guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Transport Network (COM(2011) 0650 final) are incorrect. The Commission uses the place names La Coruña and Orense, when the legally correct usage is A Coruña and Ourense. This is not the first time this has happened; the Greens/European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament therefore wishes to ask the Commission to be more careful and correct in its use of place names. If the incorrectly used place names were taken from the proposals submitted by the Member State, we ask the Commission to provide this information so that the matter can be raised with the Spanish Parliament.

This request takes as its legal basis Law 2/1998, of 3 March, on the change of name of the provinces of La Coruña and Orense (BOE No 54 of 4.3.1998). As a result of this law, the official names of the capital cities of the provinces of La Coruña and Orense have respectively been A Coruña and Ourense since 1998, as established by Decree 146/1984, of 27 September, of the Galician regional government (Xunta), pursuant to Law 3/1983, of 15 June, on linguistic standardisation, Article 10 of which states that ‘place names in Galicia shall only be officially recognised in their Galician form’ in respect of names with recognised capital status. Respect for the co-official and historic languages of the various European nations, such as Galicia, should also be one of the EU's objectives and as such also upheld in documents and legislative proposals.

The place names A Coruña and Ourense appear in this form in documents dating from as far back as the 13th century, a fact which clearly supports the argument that they are rooted in a linguistic, historical and even traditional reality.

1. Can the Commission confirm that it intends to change the place names used in this proposal?

2. Can it also instruct all the Commission services to make this change to ensure that these place names are used in their legally correct form?

OJ C 168 E, 14/06/2012