FUEN participates in the EU Conference on the occasion of the European Day of Languages 2015

In the run-up to the European Day of Languages, the European Commission organises a conference on Friday 25 September 2015 that will highlight the central role of languages for the European project and discuss the implications of multilingualism in schools, enterprises and organisations.

Speakers will be Vice President Kristalina Georgieva of the European Commission, responsible for Budget and Human Resources and Vice President Ioan Mircea of the European Parliament. Experts will speak about the importance of languages, about linguistic diversity in the classroom and in the labour market, about the role of languages in democratic participation and about multilingual communication on the web. Frank de Boer, member on behalf of FUEN in the EU Civil Society Platform for Multilingualism will participate at the conference in Brussels.

In the past years, FUEN notices, the European Commission has had a narrow economic approach to languages. Furthermore the current European Commission has no longer a Commissioner with multilingualism and linguistic diversity in his or her portfolio. FUEN regrets this.

In the Minority SafePack, the European Citizens' Initiative for the European minorities, FUEN defined the main elements for a successful language policy for the regional and minority languages in Europe.

Languages serve for much more than economic purposes alone. Languages are one of the important traits that define a community. They express, reflect and reinforce a sense of belonging.The right to one's mother tongue is a human right. In this context the quest for of a multilingual society has received a new relevance with the recent large wave of refugees who are coming to Europe.

The conference can be watched as a web-stream from 12:15 hr onwards. 

More information:

Languages in Multicultural Europe – EU lunchtime conference

European Day of Languages at the Council of Europe