MINELRES: Eurolang articles: 13-22 December 2004

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Simone Klinge <SimoneKlinge@gmx.net>


Dear Sir/ Madam,

We include a brief summary of the articles published on Eurolang. 
We would also like to express our thanks for all the support we received
this year and wish all our readers a joyful Christmas and a Happy New
Year.


CHRISTMAS ON THE DOLE, AN UNWELCOME PRESENT FOR JOURNALISTS AT LA, THE
IRISH LANGUAGE DAILY NEWSPAPER 
Baile Atha Cliath/ Dublin 12/22/2004 by Eoghan Ui Neill

A campaign mounted by various Unionist MPs and Lords against public
funding for La, the Irish language daily, and it's publishers the
Andersonstown News Group, has forced the paper to make two full-time
journalists and four part-time correspondents redundant. The paper has
also had to revert to a four day rather than a five day print run to try
to ride out the crisis. 


A MILLION PEOPLE HAVE DAILY CONTACT WITH THE WELSH LANGUAGE 
Abergele 12/22/2004 by Huw Morgan

A newly published study has shown that a million people in Wales come
into daily contact with the Welsh language. This amounts to about a
quarter of Welsh homes, and is double the number of Welsh speakers. The
study, "Linguistic Composition of Wales' Households", commissioned by
the Welsh Language Board, is based on the findings of the 2001 census
and looks at which languages are spoken in the home. 


CAMPAIGN TO GET INCOMERS TO LEARN THE WELSH LANGUAGE
Abergele 12/21/2004 by Huw Morgan

A language initiative in one of the heartlands of the Welsh language has
published posters and leaflets drawing attention to the fact that 70% of
the population speaks the language. Menter Iaith Gwynedd (Gwynedd
Language Initiative) in north-west Wales with the support of the Welsh
Language Board hopes that the many thousands of English speakers that
have moved into the Llyn Peninsula will learn the language and integrate
into the local communities. 


LANGUAGE PLAN ADOPTED BY THE REGIONAL COUNCIL OF BRITTANY 
Douarnenez 12/20/2004 by Yann Rivallain

On Friday, a detailed language plan proposed by the ruling socialists
was adopted with unanimity by the regional councillors of Brittany. The
vote was considered a victory by many: those who fostered the deal,
particularly Breton-speaking Jean-Pierre Thomin, Maire of Landerneau,
but also by many assembly members. They spoke emotionally about the days
of linguistic repression and shame associated with Breton in the recent
past. 


ROMANIAN POLITICIANS LOOK TO HUNGARIAN MINORITY PARTY TO SET UP COALTION
GOVERNMENT
Kolozsvar/Cluj 12/20/2004 by Aron Ballo

The winning Romanian parties in last week's election may be set to offer
more minority language rights because no government can be formed
without including the ethnic Hungarians' party into the ruling
coalition. 


CATALAN SCHOOL BOY TAKEN TO MADRID HIGH COURT ON �TERRORISM� CHARGE 
Barcelona 12/16/2004 by Alexia Bos Sole

Representatives of several Catalan language organisations together with
some independentist and nationalist Catalan MPs escorted a 14-year-old
teenager accused of �terrorism� from Girona to Madrid yesterday. The boy
was accused in November for alleged �terrorist� threats when sending
several e-mails to some Spanish companies, as reported on Eurolang, when
he asked for their labelling to be in the Catalan language. 


AUSTRIAN SLOVENES PROTEST AGAINST GOVERNMENT FAILURE TO ACT OVER
BILINGUAL
SIGNAGE
Wien 12/15/2004 by Peter Josika

Members of the Slovene community of the town of St Kanzian/Skocjan in
Carinthia, Austria demonstrated their dissatisfaction about government
inaction on Monday�s third anniversary of a decision issued by the
constitutional court on bilingual signage. 


NEW REPORT ON ASTURIAN
Barcelona 12/15/2004 by Alexia Bos Sole 

The International Committee for the Safeguarding of Linguistic Rights in
Asturies has issued a report with recommendations regarding the
promotion of the use of Asturian language. 


FAR-REACHING SPANISH GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS PAVE WAY FORWARD FOR EUROPE�S
MINORITISED LANGUAGES 
Brussel / Bruxelles 12/14/2004 by Davyth Hicks and Eva Martinez

The Spanish Government tabled its memorandum proposing EU official
status for Catalan, Basque and Galician languages to EU Foreign
Ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday. In addition, they called for
the languages to be included under the EU �Lingua� programme. The
proposals could have far-reaching and positive effects for Europe�s
other minoritised languages. The Irish Government also made their
proposals for official status for Irish. The Council has now requested
the Permanent Representatives Committee to examine the requests. 


3,000 IN PROTEST CALLING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BASQUE EDUCATION IN
IPARRALDE
Brussels 12/13/2004 by Davyth Hicks

3,000 Basque language supporters demonstrated in Baiona (Bayonne) in the
Northern Basque Country (Iparralde) on Saturday calling for the
development of Basque-medium education and official recognition of the
language. 


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