The Government of Sweden
Ministry of Culture
S-103 33 Stockholm

ATT:
Minister of Culture Marita Ulvskog
Head Project Officer Josefin Brattberg, , Ministry of Culture's Integration Unit

Marieholm 10 March 1999

Ref. Sweden and the Council of Europe's "Charter of Regional or Minority Languages" of 1992.

Background
Since 1989, Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid (SSF) (the Foundation for the Future of Scania), whose task it is to contribute to the strengthening and development of culture in Scania, has been active in a number of areas. For example, we have been active in connection with the creation of regions in Sweden, and have presented our opinions and suggestions to the Drafting Commission on Regions (Regionberedningen) appointed by the Swedish Government, to which SSF was acting in the capacity of official advisory (remissinstans) to the Government body. Some of our viewpoints can be found in the final report of the Drafting Commission on Regions, SOU 1995:27. We have also developed a proposal for a future regional division in Sweden - the so-called "Sweden 12 Proposal".

We have also been involved in the issue of regional or minority languages in Sweden since 1989. We have closely followed developments in this area at the European Council, the EU, and at the UN/UNESCO. We were, at the time, particularly pleased that the Swedish Delegation to the European Council actively participated in the development of the Charter on Regional or Minority Languages of 1992 from the European Council.

The Minority Language Commission
We were expecting that Sweden, like most of the EU member states, quickly would sign and ratify the agreement immediately following its acceptance the same year. This did not occur and the Swedish government thus chose not to accede to the convention. After pressure was exerted by minority organisations within and outside the country, as well as from the EU, the government decided to let the Ministry of Agriculture study the issue. The Minority Language Commission was required to complete its mandate before the end of 1996. It would take another year before the Minority Language Commission completed its work and presented its report.

In the language issue, we presented a request to be allowed to participate in the work of the Minority Language Commission in order to provide information about the Scanian language - as the Sami people did for their language - and also to be able to monitor the status of the language in the work prior to Sweden's accession to the convention. Our task involves working for the recognition of the historical Scanian language, preventing what remains of this language from disappearing, and that it be given possibilities to develop in the future. By the Scanian Language we refer to the language spoken - with local variations - in the region up until the time of the introduction of the public school system and the centralised mass media in Sweden, which have had a decisive influence on the regional languages. We have reported in detail on the Scanian language situation in our previous reports to the Minority Language Commission. In parallel with our work, the Scanian Literary Academy, where much language expertise is gathered, has also demanded recognition for the language.

Adjusted list of consulting bodies
It is was astonishment that we received information that the round of consultations from various bodies (Remissinstanser) requested in the Minority Language Commission report now has been completed, while we have not been permitted to present our view points. This is in spite of the fact that the Minority Language Commission, prior to turning the issue over to the Department of Culture, assured us that the Foundation we are representing was included on the list of consulting bodies recommended to the Minority Language Commission. This assurance was made by the secretary attached to the Commission, Marie Hagsgård, at the time the two reports of "European Council's Convention on Historical Minority Languages", SOU 1997:192, and "European Council's Convention on Protection of National Minorities", SOU 1997:193 were forwarded to us. We now find that the government officer responsible for some reason has eliminated us from the list of consulting bodies, in spite of the recommendation of the Minority Language Commission. We wish to be informed about the reason why this elimination occurred. We have received information that the Scanian Literary Academy has not been consulted either.

Mistake in handling the issue
We take for granted that some mistake occurred in the handling of the issue. In our case, this mistake appears to be due to a lack of compliance on the part of the Department of Culture with both the European Council's Charter on Regional or Minority Languages and the EU Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties, which both require regional participation and involvement in issues of language and culture. The substance of the above conventions and agreements is that issues of language and culture are basically regional in nature and must not be decided in centralised government inquiry discussion rooms or in closed circles. The regional emphasis naturally means that cultural issues must have a popular basis and that this must be the principal foundation on which such issues are decided.

The conclusions of the report are erroneous
In the Minority Language Commission report, it was stated that there is complete agreement "among all Swedes" that "Gotlandic, Dalecarlian, Scanian, Gothenburgian, Bornholmian, Bergensian, Andalusian and Bayerish are dialects of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Spanish and German, respectively (page 352). It is even claimed that "so far the issue is simple". We wish to know the reasoning behind this formulation, since all language experts familiar with Scanian conditions claim that the historical Scanian language is a language of a southern Scandinavian people with its own linguistic foundation on a par with other regional languages in Scandinavia and Europe. Furthermore, the general concept of "dialects" is questioned in modern linguistic science. The "simple" matter that is referred to is thus based not only on erroneous thinking, but also out-of-date and unscientific thinking.

Terminology manipulated by the government and investigating officers
We are also of the opinion that there is gross manipulation in this issue in that terms and concepts originating from the European Council are being falsified along the way to this written report. For example, the name of the original convention "Charter on Regional or Minority Languages" is changed in the report and now called "The European Council's Convention on Historical Minority Languages". We wish to be informed about the motives for and reasoning behind such changes in formulation.

Protest against cultural integration
We note that the government in 1998 transferred the issue regarding accession to the language convention of the European Council from the Department of Agriculture to the Integration Unit at the Department of Culture. We protest most vehemently against the placing of this issue in the hands of the Integration Unit. This action contravenes the basic spirit of several international and European agreements - not least the very convention that is the subject here. The basic point of the language convention is exactly to stop the on-going politics of integration in the areas of languages and culture in favour of preserving and developing cultural and linguistic plurality in Europe. Sweden is not in a position of exemption on this issue.

We now demand that:

1. The Government Bill to be discussed in Parliament and scheduled for May 28 be postponed.
2. Other regional organisations as well as ours be given the opportunity to participate on an equal basis with the consultative
3. bodies that were already given an opportunity to present their opinions.
4. Any future Government Bill is preceded by an open debate in the regions on the status and future of the various regional languages.
5. The status and future of the historical Scanian language shall be decided in our region and shall be based on a review by the elected Regional Assembly of the Province of Skåne.
6. The now on-going consultation procedure immediately be replaced by true popular influence on the regional level.

On behalf of the Foundation for the Future of Scania

Göran Hansson
Chairman

Peter Broberg
Vice Chairman

We refer to the documents presented by us that related to this issue:
 

• 1996-04-22 "The Position of the Scanian language in Sweden"
• 1996-06-03 Information on Swedish regions
• 1997-04-07 Demands for participation and additional information about the Scanian language

On an on-going basis, we provide information and orientation, in both Swedish and English respectively, on this issue to the following bodies:
 

• The EU Commissioner for Culture, Brussels
• European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages, Dublin
• Director of Cultural Department, European Council, Strasbourg
• Director of Human Rights, European Council, Strasbourg
• The General Secretary of UNPO, The Hague
• The Secretary General of FUEV, Flensborg
• Fédération Européenne des Maisons de Pays, Le Cannet
• The Nordic Council, Stockholm
• The Nordic Council, Copenhagen
• Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Stockholm
• Minister of Culture Marita Ulvskog, Stockholm
• The Scanian Regional Assembly (Region Skåne), Kristianstad

© SSF