For a European agency for multilingualism

Papers / 28.6.18
For a European agency for multilingualism

Europe likes to present itself as a region looking for unity in diversity.

Unity and diversity, therefore, are foundational values of the European Union, cornerstones of the United Europe we would like to achieve. In the European way of thinking, and based on our shared values, unity and diversity are joined inseparably.

Languages play a fundamental role in this concept of unity and diversity. Languages form an important combination of values which we must take into consideration. In this context, we should underline four very specific values: communication, the economy and social cohesion.

For all these motives, we will immediately outline our reasons why we consider the creation of a European Agency for Multilingualism (EAM) to be necessary, the agency to be tasked with ensuring linguistic diversity in Europe and targeting the objective of ensuring that citizens of Europe speak at least
three languages fluently and easily, as the Europe 2020 Strategy suggests.

In this paper, former MEP Bernat Joan, invites everyone to reflect, propose and discuss pros and cons of a European Agency for multilingualism, and hopes this can be a reality after the European Elections scheduled for 2019.

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This paper is a joint initiative of NPLD, UNPO, ELEN and Coppieters Foundation.

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This paper is financially supported by the European Parliament. The European Parliament is not liable for the content or the opinions of the authors.

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