Moratti Reform: the European Commission criticizes the compulsory teaching of English language and encourages Esperanto.
Rome. 27/10/2005 – The members of European Parliament Marco Pannella and Emma Bonino presented three parliamentary questions in order to denounce the violation of European law and the risk of the English linguistic monopoly as result of Moratti Reform, which chose English as the only foreign language in the primary school. The European Commission affirmed: “the linguistic and cultural European resources might be protected by promoting multilinguism, and imposing only one language to all European citizens could damage the cultural richness and diversity of European Union.”
In particular – considering the Decree of the Moratti Reform n.59 of 2004 that chose only the English language as the first compulsory communitarian language in the primary school – it has urged the European Governments, responsible for linguistic policy, to comply to the Recommendations and communitarian indications which call for the need of maximum diversification of the languages taught from childhood: for instance “the resolution of the Council of 14th of February 2002 invites the member states to give children a larger power of choice and to include the languages of the neighbour countries. Even if it is not legally binding, such resolution represents an instrument of great utility for linguistic diversity.”
For the first time, the Commission has encouraged the language Esperanto. Claiming that “the Commission is aware of the arguments proposed in favour of the introduction of Esperanto and it is also aware of the Circular of 10th April 1995 by the Ministry of the Italian Education, that mainly resumes the conclusions of the Commission for the promotion of esperanto”; Figel, the European Commissioner for Education and Multilinguism, added that: “in general, the Commission appreciates the efforts of those who propose the adoption of an auxiliary international language.”
The Secretary of the Radical Association “Esperanto” Giorgio Pagano declared: “Finally we receive a serious answer from Brussels about an epochal problem as the lack of an European linguistic communication, a problem that risks to undermine the inner cohesion and put at risk what we have already obtained, for example the European Common Market and the free circulation of goods, persons and ideas. This time Europe has been listening to our words, differently from Minister Moratti and its bureaucrats, who for 2 years have been promising to us an European experimentation of the International Language and so on.. Together with the Radical Party we did a lot, I personally went on a hunger strike lasted 18 days in order to avoid that the Italian language and culture were dumped to English colonization but, in the Italian semester, the Minister Moratti doesn’t even put the issue of “linguistic policy” on the European Union agenda.
Now it is necessary to continue the dialogue with this Commission in order to detect actions and initiatives aimed at the building of a Europe free from the expensive English tax.”