The UAB signs manifesto in favour of Catalan becoming an official language of the EU
Catalonia's public universities have signed a manifesto put forth by the cultural association Òmnium Cultural that calls on the member states of the European Union to vote in favour of making Catalan official in EU institutions.
The universities, together with different trade unions and business organisations, staged their support for the manifesto in an event that took place this morning at the headquarters of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IES) in Barcelona, attended by UAB Vice Rector for Students and Employability Anabel Galán.
The text, which was read by filmmaker Sílvia Quer and actor Sergi López, is an open letter appealing to member states to vote in favour of the official status of Catalan in the EU, "in line with the recent incorporation of Catalan into the Erasmus+ platform and the bilateral agreements that have been promoted with different European institutions".
According to the letter, official status represents "a key legal protection that makes it possible for European languages to enjoy full vitality and standardisation. We saw this when Catalan became official in Spain in 1978, after 40 years of prohibition by the dictatorship. The text also points out that "many languages with a similar or smaller number of speakers than Catalan are already official in the EU" and that the number of recognised languages has increased over time to the current 24.
The UAB, with Sustainable Development Goals
Peace, justice and strong institutions