MINELRES: EBLUL press release 9/8/2004

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Simone Klinge <simone@eblul.org>


EBLUL PRESS RELEASE 9/8/2004

49 Rue St Josse, Brussels, B-1210 Belgium
Brussels Office  00 32 (0)2 218 2590


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


EBLUL set to continue working for linguistic diversity with European
Commission support 

The Board of Directors of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages
(EBLUL) met with representatives from the European Commission on Friday
and discussed the future development of the organization over the
weekend. The Board also drafted a new policy programme for 2005.

Speaking to the press on Friday President Bojan Brezigar said:

"The Board has drafted a list of priorities which will be submitted to
the EBLUL General Assembly for approval at their meeting in September
and in the meantime the Board of Directors are keeping a close eye on
developments.

"We cannot deny that there is a crisis for this year, it follows a lapse
in our contract with the European Commission caused by the introduction
of new financial regulations by the Commission. The EBLUL Board of
Directors met in Brussels today and yesterday conducted extensive
meetings with Commission officials concerned. The Commission underlined
its continuing support for EBLUL on the basis of new financial
regulations.

"This will mean that EBLUL will have to reorganise its structure, make
it more decentralised, with more activities being held in its language
communities and less staff in its central office. It will mean that we
will be inviting more organisations to participate in co-funding
activities to promote lesser-used languages and linguistic diversity and
at the same time ensuring that these activities take place within the
community concerned.

"The Board wishes to express particular gratitude to EBLUL staff such as
the ongoing Partnership for Diversity project, and to the Eurolang news
agency and its journalists, who voluntarily have kept the cause of
language rights alight in the heart of Europe".