Ithirty years ago, on 6 November 1992, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages came into force. This anniversary was very discreetly celebrated. Respectful of the national sovereignty of each State, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages does not confine these languages to their heritage dimension; it includes them among the human rights that any democratic society open to cultural diversity protects and promotes.
Alas, for thirty years, this approach has not been audible in France. It was also in 1992 that the French Constitution of 1958 was supplemented, in its article 2, with the sentence “the language of the Republic is French”. These few words avoid the usual phrase of ” official language “ and they are systematically interpreted as an implicit exclusivity, that of the French language.
However, in 1999, the government signed this charter issued by the Council of Europe. But it never came into force, for lack of ratification, and despite the constitutional revision of 2008 (“regional languages belong to the heritage of France”). For three decades, no electoral promise of ratification has materialized.
Stop fantasizing about the universality of the French language
For three decades, by the thousands, native speakers of regional languages have joined the cemeteries. Massively educated in French, poorly literate in their language, they transmitted their language too little to their children. For three decades also, local and associative initiatives to ensure the transmission of regional languages have multiplied.
Pragmatic and rooted in their time, they would be able to ensure the future of our languages, provided some stop fantasizing about the universality of the French language and the annihilation of patois as conditions for national unity. In this context, what further use is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages? This text is constructed like a menu of options that allows you to sit down to eat while being content with a dry diet.
Naturally, it is this diet without butter and without flavor that the government had chosen in 1999. History to further clarify the thing, it had matched its signature with a catalog of additional restrictions. In fact, most commitments have already been met. In thirty years, some have been enshrined in our laws and most are implemented by the voluntary sector or by local authorities, particularly in Alsace and the Basque Country.
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