Plataforma per la Llengua has been re-elected for another year as a member of the steering committee of the European Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) at its annual general assembly, which took place in Roazhon (officially, in French, Rennes), Brittany, last Thursday and Friday (8 and 9 June). Maria de Lluc Muñoz, international officer for Plataforma per la Llengua, represented the organisation at the assembly, which was held at the headquarters of the Breton Regional Council. L'Ofis Publik Ar Brezhoneg (the Public Office for the Breton Language) hosted the event, which is organised by the network in a different place every year.
The NPLD meeting began on Thursday, 8 June, with the approval of the accounts, political action and the new statutes of the association. Elections to choose the non-permanent members of the steering committee were also held. This committee, which held the first of its two annual meetings in parallel with the assembly, is formed by permanent members - governments - and by associate members such as universities and organisations. The latter are renewed every year.
As well as Plataforma per la Llengua, these are currently: Aurten Bai Fundazioa and Soziolinguistika Klusterra (representatives of the organisations that defend the Basque language), Convergéncia Occitana (for Occitan), la Fryske Akademy-Mercator Research Centre (for Friesian), Prifysgol Cymru Y Drindod Dewi Sant (a Welsh university), Stockholms Universitet (represented by the Finnish department) and Ruotsinsuomalaisten arkisto (the archive for the Finnish-speaking minority in Sweden).
The president of the NPLD, Miquel Àngel Sureda, of the Government of the Balearic Islands (left), accompanied by Paul Molac (centre), president of the Public Office of the Breton Language, and Fulup Jakez, director of the office.
Reception at Roazhon City Hall and conference on the intergenerational transmission of languages in multilingual contexts
On the Thursday afternoon, the representatives of the organisations enjoyed a guided tour of Roazhon and were welcomed at the City Hall by the Breton councillor responsible for languages and language policy Montserrat Casacuberta. The meeting continued the following day (Friday) with a day devoted to the intergenerational transmission of languages in multilingual contexts. That conference opened with a talk on the generational continuity of languages beyond transmission through families by the director of the Basque Language Planning and Promotion Service at the Navarre Basque Language Institute, Paula Kasares, who spoke after introductory words by Paul Molac and Fulup Jakez, president and director respectively of the Public Office of the Breton Language, and Miquel Àngel Sureda, president of the NPLD and secretary for Universities, Research and Language Policy for the Government of the Balearic Islands.
The conference continued with a talk by Dr Katell Chantreau on the transmission of Breton in families, and two sessions about Basque and Welsh, and the challenges of language transmission in multilingual regions. The speakers in the sessions on Basque and Welsh were Estibaliz Alkorta and Jose Ignazio Mosteiro, director and senior officer respectively of the Basque Government's Basque Language Promotion Service, and Bethan Webb and Jeremy Evans, MP and director of Welsh Language Projects for the Government of Wales. At the round table on challenges to language transmission, the speakers were Gábor Flora, lecturer at the Partiumi Keresztény Egyetem (the Catholic University of Partium, a Hungarian language university in what is now Romanian territory); Sabrina Rasom, director of the Ladino Institute of Culture; and Montserrat Sendra, from the Government of Catalonia's Language Policy Office.
A trip to the city of Saint-Malo rounded off a meeting that reaffirmed Plataforma per la Llengua's role in the NPLD network and in protecting the rights of the Catalan-speaking language minority. Being re-elected as a member of the steering committee is also a new opportunity for continuing to defend Catalan internationally.
The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity: a European network to advise institutions and stimulate variety in languages
Plataforma per la Llengua has been representing Catalan-speakers as part of the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) since 2016. In 2018 it was also elected as a member of the network's steering committee. The NPLD's aim is to advise governments in developing language policies that encourage diversity, promote cooperation between associations of linguistic minorities and protect the speakers of minoritised languages.
The NPLD also has a direct influence on the European Council, one of the main decision-making bodies of the European Union, and a direct relationship with the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe so that language diversity is taken into account in all European bodies.
