The Government is not following the Maastricht Treaty

The letter is addressed to:

Prime Minister
Göran Persson
The Government of Sweden
S-103 33 Stockholm
Sweden

The Minority Language Commission
Departementens utredningsavdelning
Kronhussgatan 11
S-411 05 Göteborg
Sweden

Marieholm, April 7th 1997

Ref.

The European Council's Charter on Regional and Minority Languages 1992
The Minority Language Commission in Sweden
Our letter dated 22 Apri1 1996. The Minister of Agriculture's letter, JO 96/1489

Background
In 1992 the European Council published its language convention Charter on Regional and Local Languages. One intention with this charter was to sustain and protect the European minority languages subjected to annihilation under the influence of the dominating state languages.

The Swedish negotiation team in the European Council approved the content of the final agreement. Despite this the Swedish Government chose not to put their signature to the agreement and thereby differentiating itself from the majority of the European governments, including the governments in Denmark, Norway and Finland - who have signed it.

Under pressure from regional culture organisations in Sweden, i.e. Sameland, Tornedalen and Scania, applied the Government nitiated an inquiry in order to evaluate the consequences of signing the Charter. It appointed a commission - the Minority Language Committee - which is placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture. The inquiry is carried out by the Department of Inquiries in Gothenburg.

The Government directives stipulate:

that the Minority Language Committee shall present a report covering the following the number of languages to be regarded as minority languages in Sweden,
which parts of the Charter Sweden can agree to abide by,
the costs arising if Sweden should bind itself to the Charter and
a suggestion of possible ways of financing

According to the original Government directives the Minority Language Committee should have presented its report after one year, that is, during the autumn of l996. This deadline could not be kept so it was extended by six months. There are reasons to believe that the Minority Language Committee will complete its work before the summer 1997.

No responses on previous letters
The undersigning organisation, Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid - SSF is actively working with questions concerning Scania's culture and has the preservation of the its regional language highly placed on its agenda. SSF sent the Minority Language Committee a letter, dated 22 April 1996, on this subject. The only reaction we received was a brief letter, dated 11 October 1996, from the chairman of the Minority Language Committee, Carin Lundmark, and one from the Minister of Agriculture Annika Åhnberg, dated 10 October 1996. The latter contained references to the demands that SSF put forward in its original letter, namely:

That Sweden should immediately sign the European Council's agreement.
That the regional historical languages should be given official status and thereby given legislative protection in Sweden.
That the investigation directives should be rewritten to become a consequential analysis of the signing of the agreement.
That definitions and criteria are presented in a clearer way in the new terms of the directives.

SSF has in the letter of 22nd April 1996 based its arguments on two principles, that is to say that Sweden adopts a political cultural public policy which;

gives the regional languages resources for development and protection, and
refers the question regarding the regional language's formal status to regional democratic political organisations.

A regional language is part of a regional identity
SSF wants to underline that the language question is regarded as very important and that the basic ambition for the concept of European cultural diversity, as expressed by the European Council's Charter on languages, is that all Minority languages - also the Scanian - shall survive as a part of the regional cultural heritage. This point of view is also shared by an overwhelming majority of the residents of Scania. The language - that is to say, the historical language-base, grammar and specific forms of expression - is thus considered to be synoptic with the Scanian cultural identity.

SSF refers, within this letter, to four newspaper articles which all have their origin roots in the specific language situation in Scania today. It is also our belief that it is only when a balanced situation is reached between Sweden's so called "state language" or "Standard Language" and the regional language in Scania, that the type of problem described in the four articles can be solved.

"We, the new Swedes, are let down by the education system"
He regards it as a betrayal that, despite the fact that he who was born here, is not speaking in the same way as others in the region. "Look at the Bosnians who live up in Norrland ", he gives as an example. "They talk just like the local people there. No one can think that they are from Bosnia. But when I open my mouth everyone thinks that I am an immigrant despite the fact that I was born here."
Sydsvenskan 970408
(The largest daily newspaper in the region.)

The article brings up a problem which is well known in Scania, that is to say that the language influence via. the schools and media has "Standarad Swedish", that is to say the Stockholm / Mälardalen language, as a model, while the local environment in which the immigrants and their offspring live in, bears the stamp of the Scanian language. This problem is well illustrated by the person in the article who, despite the fact that he is born and raised in Scania, has ended up with a broken accent in his new language, thereby creating further identity problems for him.

Apart from what can be related to the special language problems which arise from being an immigrant, there are without a doubt a number of people with an immigrant background who in addition have to deal with the special problems arising from the unnatural circumstances in the region between the Scanian and the Standard Swedish language.

"Frightening result of reading examination"
Approximately every third pupil in the high school level vocational-preparation program in the colleges of Malmö (Malmö is the largest city in Scania, abt 300 000 inhabitants.) have a reading understanding which, at the most, is equal to understanding of the average middle-school level in the country as a whole. The same thing applies to six percent of the pupils within the preparatory study program. This is all much worse than for the normal comparative groups out in the rest of the country. The study "First year reading and writing diagnosis, in the college-school 96/97" will be put before the educational board next week. It shows a frightening result which is especially frightening for Malmö. "
Arbetet Nyheterna 1/3/97
(The second largest daily newspaper in the region.)

The article points out problems which amongst other things derive from the fact that the Scania everyday language is markedly different from the "Standard Swedish" language. The Standard Swedish learning processes places the Scanian youngsters on a language B-level. In effect this also means that these youngsters later in life will have lesser chances to compete on an equal level in, for instance, the employment market, the politics and in the mass media. The language question is therefore also, to the very highest degree, a question of equality and democracy.

"'Spisstrutad' or 'breflabbad' in television?"
(Spisstrutad = approx. "Queens English-speakers". Breflabbad = approx. "Country Bumpkin-speakers")
Should dialects be spoken in the different regional news programs on television? Or does it really matter? Should the Scanian language be used in Sydnytt. (A fifteen minute daily regional news program on state television). and dalecarlian natives in the production-team in Falun? Sydsvenskan called the heads of the ten regional radio production teams through-out the country and asked these questions. To speak in dialect is not a requirement, the most important thing is that the reporters in the regional broadcasts speak clearly and understandably. That was the general understanding amongst the regional producers.
Sydsvenskan 3/3/97

The article illuminates a broad understanding in Scania that the media discriminates Scanian speaking people and often ignores them, both in front of and behind the camera/microphone. It is also illuminative that all of the producers of local TV-programs mean that "the ability to make oneself understood" is more important than that the language is allowed to have a local/regional tone and expression. This view is in direct violation of the content of the European Council's Charter which is covered by this letter, in which the local people's participation in the media - as opposed to passively being informed from above - is an important part of the policy of the cultural diversity within the new Europe. The TV-producers' opinion that "the ability to make oneself understood" also points at a basic error of judgement - generally speaking it is of course so that all people from Scania, language-wise, always understand what other Scanians are saying.

"Root of the tongue 'r' lies in the risk zone"
"The tendency is that an ever increasing number of young people in Skåne talk with a tongue-tip 'r'. The Scanian language is on its way to change to Standard Swedish", says Gösta Bruce, professor of phonetics. Even the Scanian language melody is on its way to becoming the same as the up-Swedish model. The reason is the influence of, amongst other things, the broadcast-media. "The Stockholm / Mälardalen (The immediate region surrounding Stockholm.) is regarded as a prestige centre and it is quite natural that this influences our language ", says Bruce.
Sydsvenskan 8/4/97

The article confirms the problems that SSF has expressed in this and earlier letters, that Sweden's present cultural policy is diminishing instead of preserving and enriching the cultural flora. From the scientific point of view the article points a warning finger to the fact that the Scanian language is under the immediate threat of annihilation. By way of completely embracing the European Council's Charter on languages the Swedish Government has now in its hands the unique possibility of reverting this negative development.

Protesting against closed state inquiries
As a final point, we note that the Minister of Agriculture, Annika Åhnberg's letter contained the information that the Minority Language Committee has been instructed to reply to the letters and questions that SSF had sent to them. No such replies have been received to date. In a very short letter - 4 lines - from the chairman of the Minority Language Committee, Carin Lundberg, dated October 11th 1996, contained a reply to questions and demands which SSF has not made. It seems to us that the Minority Language Committee has been confused our letter with others received. We would underline that it is not at all acceptable that the Minister seem to think that the language issue can be treated through committee statements and not through an open debate. SSF strongly protests against such a handling of the matter.

The language issues are regional - not state based
Sweden has undersigned the Maastricht agreement on January 1, 1995. It is stipulated there that the member states shall respect the cultural diversity in Europe, and recommends that cultural and language issues shall be dealt with on a regional level. By allowing such an important cultural question as the future for the regional languages to be decided centrally in a closed and non-communicative inquiry committee, the Swedish Government is clearly breaking the Maastricht Agreement's culture clause, article 128. It stipulates, amongst other things, that the member states shall show respect for their respective regional cultures. The part of the agreement concerning the Regional Committee also suggests a regional decision-making process in the fields of culture (article 128/5), health and healthcare (article 129/4) and transport (article 229d). We can therefore not accept that such an important cultural question as the future prospects of the regional languages in Sweden are decided by an centrally appointed committee.

Sweden is not following the Maastricht Treaty
The fact that the language question is a decidedly popular question makes it obvious that it should be presented for decision to the people concerned. The issue does not belong in a closed committee on any level. It is therefor SSF's demand that Sweden shall follow the Maastricht Treaty and treat the language question at a regional level. As far as the Scanian language is concerned it is of course the new regional political organisation, the Provincial Board of Skåne (Skånestyrelsen) which should deal with the matter. It is this organisation which should find ways to treat the language issue in a democratic way with a broad local involvement.

In Summary.
In anticipation of the Government deferring the issue of the Scanian language from a central to a regional level, SSF demands of the Government that:

the Minority Language Committee publicly account for the criteria and definitions which lie as a base for its work. representatives from all of the involved regions, who so wish, should be given the opportunity to take part in the process and that open debates in language questions are initiated in the regions involved.
the Minority Language Committee follows the recommendations and regulations which apply for language and cultural questions within EU and the European Committee, when carrying out its internal work.
the Government signs the European Charter on Regional and Local Languages of 1992 as it is presented - without reservations and limitations.
the Government officially acknowledges the existence of the regional folk languages in Sweden - even the Scanian language.
the question regarding the official recognition of the historical Scanian language is deferred to the region which is actively involved - Scania.

With friendly regards
Göran Hansson
Chairman

Copies to:

The EU Commissioner for Culture, Brussels - (English translation)
The European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages, Dublin - (English translation)
The European Council, Strasbourg - (English translation)
The Nordic Council, Stockholm, Sweden
The Secretary General of UNPO, Haag - (English translation)
The Secretary General of FUEV, Flensborg - (English translation)
Minister of Agriculture, Annika Åhnberg, Ministry of Agriculture, Sweden
The Skånestyrelsen (The lnterim Provincial Board of Skåne), Lund Sweden

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