Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 14 December 2020 - Brussels

European Citizens’ Initiative – Minority SafePack (continuation of debate)

  Dace Melbārde, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Madam President, indeed the promotion of European linguistic and cultural diversity raised by the Minority SafePack is a noble aim. At the same time, when carrying out the linguistic diversity preservation strategy, we need to look at various aspects, including the risk factors for language survival, as well as the states’ abilities to strengthen their culture and information spaces. Similarly, the constitutional, historical and geopolitical aspects of each Member State have to be respected and taken into account.

By promoting multilingualism throughout Europe we have to see the whole picture of the world languages, promotion instruments for ensuring linguistic plurality also need to support those official EU languages which have a relatively small, and falling, number of speakers. We cannot create a situation whereby promotion of a certain minority language within a country leads to the endangerment of the official state language or comes at the expense of other minority languages. What is more, let us not be blind and deaf to attempts by certain third countries to use the minority-language issue as a propaganda tool to implicitly intervene in the internal affairs of the EU Member States and spread disinformation, thus trying to undermine societal cohesion or cause friction within the EU.