ELEN Press Releases
ELEN calls on EU to take action to protect European minoritised languages at the UN Forum for Minority Issues
ELEN has issued a formal statement at the UN Forum for Minority Issues in Geneva calling on the EU to take action to protect European minoritized and endangered languages, something that the EU is required to do under Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty. The statement,...
ELEN General Assembly 2025: language activists to campaign for EU measures to protect European minoritized languages.
Around 100 delegates representing 182 language activist organisations gathered in Barcelona over the weekend for the 2025 ELEN General Assembly hosted by CIEMEN and supported by the Catalan Government and Barcelona Council. The meeting covered a wide range of issues...
Activistes lingüístics de tota Europa es reuniran a Barcelona per a l’Assemblea General 2025 de l’ELEN
NOTA DE PREMSA Un ampli suport públic a les llengües minoritzades d’Europa fa imprescindible que la UE actuï, afirmen els dirigents de l’ELEN. Prop de 90 delegats que representen 180 organitzacions d’activistes lingüístics de tota Europa es reuniran a Barcelona del 14...
Events
Being summoned to court over the choice of your child's name is a traumatic experience.
The misunderstanding is all the greater because the State contradicts itself:
➡️The Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, has a tilde in his name.
➡️For the past year, the state has been displaying "France Travail – Frañs Labour" on billboards in Breton.
➡️but this same symbol would pose a problem for a child's first name.
💕We did not choose this name at random.
Fañch was the Breton first name of his great-grandfather François, whom everyone called by that name.
He left us exactly one year ago.
Today, his name continues to live on through our son.
📜The ñ is neither a whim nor a provocation.
This spelling is old, used since the Middle Ages, and it appears in the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, a foundational text of the French language, as has been pointed out by Michel Canevet during a question posed to the government a few months ago.
The name Fañch fully respects the Constitution, whose article 75-1 recognizes that regional languages belong to the French heritage.
👉Defending this first name is not asking for a privilege. It is defending a language, a history, and the right to pass it on.
💙Thinking of all the Fañch.
🙏Thanks to the Skoazell Vreizh association, to Charlie, to our lawyer from Lorient and to all those who work closely or remotely.
⏳Verdict in two months🤞.
✊For our son and all the Fañch of yesterday, today and tomorrow. For Breton.