Europeanizing Minority Language Policy

1
Europeanizing Minority Language Policy

• Leverage and Convergence

Becky Halloran Bryan Hart
2
Role of the EU in Language Policy

• The norms governing European language policy
• Eastern convergence to these norms
• Political leverage as a catalyst of this
  convergence
  
• Failures in implementation in both Eastern and
  Western Europe

3
Norms in European Language Policy

• European Charter for Regional or Minority
  Languages (Council of Europe 1992)
  
• Criteria of a Minority Language
• Autochthonous language spoken by a subgroup of
  the population
  
• Not the national language
• Exception for some non-territorial languages
  (Yiddish, Romany)
  

4
Norms in European Language Policy

• Spain
• Signed ECRML in 1992 Ratified in 2001
• ECRML applies to three official minority
  languages Euskadi (Basque), Catalán, and
  Gallego
  
• Policies adopted at the national level or by the
  autonomous communities are carried out at the
  regional level
  
• Individual municipalities are responsible for the
  implementation of language policies
  

5
Norms in European Language Policy

• Germany
• Signed ECRML in 1992 Ratified in 1998
• Through ratification the ECRML applies both at
  the federal level and all subordinate levels
  (Länder).
  
• ECRML applies to the minority languages Danish,
  Upper Sorbian, and Lower Sorbian, North Frisian
  and Saterland Frisian, and Romany, as well as Low
  German.

6
Norms in European Language Policy

• Germany cont.
• These measures are carried out at multiple levels
  within the German federal system
  
• Federal level Federal Ministry of the Interior
  (Federal Government Commissioner for Matters
  Related to Repatriates and National Minorities in
  Germany)
• Land level usually in chancellery or a state
  ministry
  

7
Norms in European Language Policy

• Germany The example of the Sorbs
• Brandenburg Land has established a Section for
  Sorbian (Wendish) Matters within the Ministry for
  Science, Research and Cultural Affairs has
  
• Free State of Saxony has established a Section
  for Sorbian Matters within the Ministry of
  Scientific Affairs and Arts.
  
• Both States have enacted legislation to guarantee
  a basic degree of rights
  
• Language has legal status
• Maintenance and development of ancestral
  language, culture, and traditions
  
• Identity preservation
• Both States help fund Sorbian language schools in
  coordination with local and regional Sorbian
  groups.
  

8
Eastern European Convergence

• Slovenia
• Signed ECRML in 1997 Ratified in 2000
• ECRML applies to Italian, Hungarian, and Romany
• Italian and Hungarian are official minority
  languages in mixed ethnic zones
  
• Romany is protected because of its unique status

9
Eastern European Convergence

• Slovenia, cont.
• Article 64 of Constitution- gives Italians and
  Hungarians the right to establish their own
  organizations, education and schooling in their
  own languages
• Article 4 of Public Administration Act- states
  that in municipal areas with original Italian
  and Hungarian ethnic communities the second
  official language shall be Italian and Hungarian,
  respectively
• Bilingual Education Models
• Instruction in Italian/Hungarian w/ Slovene as
  obligatory subject
  
• Exists in pre-school, primary school, and
  secondary school
  

10
Eastern European Convergence

• Slovenia, cont.
• Implementation
• Self-governing ethnic communities within
  autochthonous regions established to implement
  policies
  
• Coastal Italian Self-Governing National
  Community
  
• Hungarian National Self-Governing Community of
  Pomurje
  
• Deputies in Slovene National Assembly
• Veto power on any act or regulation dealing with
  minority issues
  
• Government Office for Nationalities in Slovenia
• Deals with issues concerning Roma community and
  others
  

11
Eastern European Convergence

• Latvia
• Has not signed ECRML but is a member of the CoE
  and EU
  
• Main Minorities Russian, Belorussian, Ukrainian,
  Polish, Roma, German (as identified by
  Euromosaic)
  
• Citizenship policy
• Latvian language tests
• Slow naturalization process
• Latvian ancestry
• Deliberately exclusionary

12
Eastern European Convergence

• Latvia cont.
• Language Policy
• Those belonging to ethnic minorities have the
  right to conserve and to promote their language
  and their ethnic and cultural identity.
  
• Official / Foreign language dichotomy
• Foreign languages cannot be used in interactions
  with the State.
  
• Foreign languages require notarized translations
  or a translator
  
• Latvian is a mandatory language of instruction
• Have established some bilingual schools (mainly
  Russian)
  
• 60-40 rule
• Result decrease in Russian monolingualism.

13
Leverage and Language Policy

• Pressure to conform to European standards and
  norms
  
• Linked to EU membership
• Copenhagen Criteria
• the candidate country has achieved stability of
  institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of
  law, human rights, and respect for and protection
  of minorities (Vachudova 2005 121).
• Acquis Communautaire

14
Leverage and Language Policy

• Slovenia
• Signed AND ratified ECRML before becoming an EU
  member
  
• CoE published report evaluating Slovenias
  application of ECRML
  
• Expressed satisfaction at the situation
• Encouraged Slovenia to evaluate the situation of
  other languages Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian,
  German

15
Leverage and Language Policy

• Latvia
• EU allowed Organization for Security and
  Co-operation policy in Europe (OSCE) to formulate
  policy on Latvia
  
• High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM)
  made regular suggestions for liberalizing
  citizenship policy.
  
• Reduction of naturalization fees
• Simplification of tests required of new citizens
• Granting of citizenship to stateless children
• Abolition of naturalizing windows

16
Leverage and Language Policy

• Latvia cont.
• Compliance linked to membership in EU and CoE
• 1993 CoE stated that Latvia would not be
  admitted unless it complied HCNM recommendations
  on its citizenship laws
  
• 1997 EU commission report on Latvia judged
  Latvia as complying with Copenhagen Criteria,
  
• Report still encouraged further development of
  the naturalization process.
  
• Revision of Latvian State Language Bill (1998).
  
  

17
Failures in Implementation

• Spain
• Regional discrepancies
• Policies adopted by the autonomous community are
  not always implemented by the municipalities
  
• Funding is often the responsibility of
  municipalities some local communities are unable
  to provide sufficient funding
  
• Lack of co-operation between elites,
  administrators, and officials
  
• Basque only supported in northern-most zone of
  Navarra, not in mixed zone where 13.2 speak
  Basque

18
Failures in Implementation

• Spain, cont.
• Education
• Discrepancies in education of Gallego in primary,
  secondary, and vocational schools
  
• Only 20 of preschool children taught completely
  in Gallego, 44 partly in Gallego
  
• Public Administration
• Use of Gallego is more prevalent in the public
  sphere than in formal or official settings
  
• Use of Gallego in judicial system is very rare

19
Failures in Implementation

• Germany
• Follow-through on use of Sorbian in legal realm
• Negative perception of Sorbian as economically
  viable
  
• Destruction of Sorbian villages for lignite
  mining
  
• Economic decline
• Problems of transition

20
Failures in Implementation

• Slovenia
• Public Administration
• Most written communications are issued in
  Slovenian particularly few in Italian
  
• Italian not sufficiently used in public services
• Judicial System
• Often not possible to use Hungarian in the
  Courts because of the judges insufficiency in
  the language
  
• Roma
• Legislation including provisions for the Roma
  community is focused on integrating them into
  education and social welfare no specific focus
  on language

21
Failures in Implementation

• Latvia
• Lack of funding for minority language schools
• Continuance of exclusionary citizenship laws
  (albeit slightly liberalized)
  
• Nested (monolingual) discourses, mutual
  misunderstanding between minority population and
  majority population.
  

22
Bibliography

• Council of Europe. Second State Report Germany
  European Charter for Regional or Minority
  Languages. Strasbourg 2004. 14 November 2005.
  http//www.coe.int/T/E/Legal_Affairs/Local_and_reg
  ional_Democracy/Regional_or_Minority_languages/2_M
  onitoring/2.2_States_Reports/Germany_report2.pdf
  
• Euromosaic. Latvia. September 2004. 3 November
  2005. http//europa.eu.int/comm/education/policie
  s/lang/languages/langmin/euromosaic/lat_en.pdf
  
• ---. Sorbian in Germany. 1996. 28 September
  2005. http//europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies
  /lang/languages/langmin/euromosaic/de3_en.html
  
• Levitsky, Steven, and Lucan Way. International
  Linkage and Democratization. Journal of
  Democracy 16, 3 (2005).
  
• Schimmelfennig, Frank, Stefan Engert, and Heiko
  Knobel. Costs, Commitment and Compliance the
  Impact of EU Democratic Conditionality on Latvia,
  Slovakia, and Turkey. Journal of Common Market
  Studies 41, no 3 (2003) 495-518.
• Vachudova, Milada. Undivided Europe Democracy,
  Leverage, and Integration after Communism. New
  York Oxford, 2005

23
Bibliography

• Rota, Petra. Slovenia. European Centre for
  Minority Issues.
  
• European Commission. The Euromosaic Study. 24
  May 2005. http//europa.eu.int/comm/education/po
  licies/lang/languages/langmin/euromosaic
  
• Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on
  the application of the Charter by Slovenia.
  Centre Internacional Escarré per a les minories
  etniques a les naciones. 9 June 2004. http//www.ciemen.org
• Galician (Gallego) in Spain. Institut de
  Sociolinguística Catalana. 26 Sept. 2005.
  .
  
• Hicks, Davyth. Council of Europe says Spain is
  in forefront of minority language protection, but
  problems continue in Navarre. Eurolang. 22
  Sept. 2005. Eurolang. 26 Sept. 2005.
  .
• Hicks, Davyth. Catalan MEP welcomes Council of
  Europe's "extraordinarily important" support for
  Catalan language immersion. Eurolang. 23 Sept.
  2005. Eurolang. 26 Sept. 2005.
  .
• Council of Europe. European Charter for Regional
  or Minority Languages Application of the Charter
  in Spain. Strasbourg 21 Sept. 2005.