[ALBSA-Info] EBLUL Press Release

[Agron Alibali]

Press Release

New EBLUL Member State Committee established in Greece

Brussels 28.01.02 – Last Saturday, the European Bureau for Lesser-Used
Languages (EBLUL) made the final step towards a new Member State Committee
(MSC) in Greece. 16 representatives of linguistic and cultural associations
elected the six future members of EBLUL's MSC in Greece and its Chairman,
Athanasios Parisis from the Slavomacedonian group as well as his Deputy,
Sotiris Bletzas from the Vlach community. After adopting the Bureau’s
statute and being accepted by EBLUL's Council, the new established MSC will
represent four minorities in Greece: the Slavomacedonians, the Vlachs, the
Turks and the Pomaks. ‘Hopefully representatives of the Arvanite language -
which were not present at the meeting only due to technical reasons - will
join the Greek Member State Committee soon', says Bojan Brezigar, President
of EBLUL.
After the meeting in Thessaloniki, Brezigar expressed his great satisfaction
with the establishment of a new MSC in Greece, which could contribute to
substantial changes of policies towards regional or minority languages in
the country. 'The information exchanged in our meeting showed that within
the European Union, Greece is undoubtedly a State, where linguistic
diversity has not been considered a wealth so far. It will be the task of
the new Committee, with technical and political support of the whole of
EBLUL, to promote common EU understanding about this topic also in Greece.
Furthermore, the MSC will contribute to assure a relevant level of dignity
for minority languages in Greece, and real possibilities to survive and to
develop' Brezigar adds.
So far, the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages is made up of 13
committees, which represent the interests of the various communities. The
Member State Committees comprise cultural organisations, official
institutions and other bodies active in the field of regional or minority
languages and cultures. Through their activities and by their very
existence, the Member State Committees encourage co-operation between the
linguistic communities within a single State. Although the situations differ
from one language community to the next, such collaboration has proven to be
very valuable as it fosters the development of a concerted strategy at State
and European level.

EUROPEAN BUREAU FOR
LESSER USED LANGUAGES (EBLUL)
www.eblul.org

Rue Saint Josse 49
B-1210 Bruxelles


TEL: 0032/2/ 250 31 64


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