On the 12th and 13th December 2003, the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) held a meeting in Gdansk (Poland) with the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association at the Maximilian-Kolbe-meeting house. The meeting aimed at informing participants about the European Union language policy in general as well as its structure and membership. EBLULs meeting in Gdansk reached a consensus among all participants. As a result of this fruitful meeting a Polish Member State Committee was established which will apply for membership in EBLUL. Dr. Tomasz Wicherkiewicz, head of the Department of Language Policy and Minority Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan and member of the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association and Kashubian Institute in Gdansk, will be the President of the Polish Member State Committee (PolBLUL).
Regarding the linguistic background in Poland, Polish is the official language of the country. However, Poland has 16 lesser-used languages as well: Kashubian, Silesian and Wilamowicean are the three regional languages of the territory, Belarusian, Czech, German, Lithuanian, Russian, Ruthenian/Lemkian, Slovak, and Ukrainian are the eight minority languages. Finally, Poland has four non-territorial languages, namely Armenian, Hebrew and Yiddish, Karaim and Romani. The PolBLUL (registered officially under the name: Union of Regional and Minority Languages in Poland) will represent all these languages soon.
The meeting was also useful in that it strengthened the co-operation between EBLUL and the above-mentioned Polish organisations with the goal of integrating the different language communities after enlargement in May 2004. In the upcoming months similar meetings are planned in Slovenia and Latvia. Moreover, EBLUL plans to establish an info point centre in one of the accession countries in order to inform on mainstreaming opportunities for project funding and strengthen the co-operation between EBLUL and the accession countries.
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