Emmanuel Le Merlus: Breton language to vanish if France's attitude remains unchanged VIDEO

If France's attitude towards Brittany and the Breton people does not change, there will be practically no speakers of this language left.

Emmanuel Le Merlus, a representative of the non-governmental organisation Unis dans la Diversité Linguistique / Unanet e Liesseurted ar Yezhù made the statement at the Warsaw Conference on the Human Dimension 2023, adding that the Breton language is on the verge of extinction, Report informs.

"It is the last Celtic language spoken on the European continent. At the beginning of the 20th century, more than a million people spoke the language. Today, most of them are over seventy-five years old. If France's attitude towards Breton does not change, there will be only a few tens of thousands of speakers left. UNESCO has classified Breton as a language in serious danger of extinction," he said.

Under the 15 March 2022 agreement, the French state had pledged to increase the number of Breton-language students from 19,000 to 30,000 by 2027 and to mobilise resources for teacher training. However, very few new Gallo- and Breton-language schools were opened in time for the start of the school year in September 2022 and last month, he said.

The Ministry of Education has also yet to announce a teacher training plan, with 400 teachers to be trained to meet the goals outlined in the agreement.

"The Brittany associations are asking the French state to keep its promises. France has still not signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. France has not yet ratified the Council of Europe Charter on Regional Minority Languages," Le Merlus concluded.