This Thursday, the Plataforma per la Llengua initiated, before the European Commission, the formalities for community institutions to facilitate and promote the possibility of the media that broadcast in our language being received in all the Catalan-speaking territories. This is the object of the campaign titled "Catalan, no borders" which the NGO undertook last June with a view to obtaining the 30,000 signatures required to push this petition forward. The first objective has been accomplished and the support was obtained this week.
Marga Payola, member of the executive and international director of the Plataforma per la Llengua, took the 30,000 signatures to the European commission in order to demonstrate the support for this petition. The objective is to get the European institutions to take a stance before the Spanish, French and Italian authorities in order to prevent the violation of the language rights of Catalan speakers that are recognised by Directive 2010/13/EU. At this moment in time, the fact that they do not allow the reception of Catalan media from other states infringes this Directive.
Payola explained that "language rights are being violated, and it is fair to say that this is a somewhat abnormal situation in Europe. However, besides the community institutions, we will continue to lobby the Spanish, Italian and French States and the autonomous governments, as well as Andorra, in order to make reciprocity legally and technologically feasible".
"We are looking for mechanisms to make ourselves heard in Europe and call upon states to honour the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages", asserted Payola, who further explained that this petition will be sent to the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights. The wording of the ECRML clearly says that the ratifying states undertake "to guarantee freedom of direct reception of radio and television broadcasts from neighbouring countries in a language used in identical or similar form to a regional or minority language, and not to oppose the retransmission of radio and television broadcasts from neighbouring countries in such a language", which is not the case.
