The Congress Bureau adopted a Declaration on ''Regional and minority languages in Europe today''. ''The Bureau welcomed the fact that a large majority of the French National Assembly voted, on 28 January 2014, in favour of a constitutional amendment permitting the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages by France, 15 years after its signature. It calls on Iceland, Italy and Malta, which have also signed the Charter but not yet ratified it, to follow France’s positive example. In addition, it invites the authorities of Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, the Russian Federation and “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” to ratify the Charter which they committed to do when they joined the Council of Europe. The Congress – and in particular its Chamber of Regions – will continue to follow up this issue, in close cooperation with the relevant monitoring bodies of the Council of Europe.''
News - 2014 - Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
