The 9th of May is Europe Day, in memory of the declaration made by the former French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman in Paris on 9 May 1950, kicking off the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). To coincide with this Day, this year on 9 May, the Pro-Language Platform has initiated an information campaign to explain the situation of Catalan language in the European institutions. Under the #noofficialnoexist hashtag, the web expounds the consequences of not being an official European Union language for Catalan, an anomalous situation, since there is no other language of the size, vitality, economic and demographic weight, power of attraction and legal and symbolic representativeness that Catalan enjoys that is not a fully-fledged official European language.
These consequences include preventing Catalan-speaking citizens from not being able to use their own language to communicate directly with the European institutions and organisations, rendering it impossible for Catalan-speaking MEPs to use their language in the European Parliament, while also obstructing the use of the language rights recognised in the Catalan legal system. In this regard, the Catalan-language NGO reminds us that the Spanish State has vetoed the request for Catalan to be an official language up to 16 times.
The campaign's website, available in English and in French, concludes that the only possible solution for righting this wrong is the creation of an own state that confers the legal and judicial recognition required at European level on Catalan. For this reason, the website seeks to raise awareness among the citizens of the shackles placed on our language as it strives to drive towards standardisation in the European Union. Spread the campaign with the #noofficialnoexist! hashtag
Download "The Catalan Language"
Moreover, this month, the Pro-Language Platform is also publishing "The Catalan Language", a short dossier in English with the most salient data about Catalan that aims to spread awareness of Catalan language abroad. The guide presents some of the most relevant data about the language in terms of its dimensions, vitality, demographic weight, power of attraction or legal and symbolic representativeness.
