Plaid MEP Jill Evans has expressed her disappointment that Welsh language journalism has been excluded from a prestigious EU journalism award. She wants the rules changed to include Welsh language journalism. The European Parliament Journalism Prize is awarded annually to journalists who have displayed excellence in covering major European issues and promoted a better understanding of European institutions or policies.
But the award is only open to entries produced in one of the European Union's 23 official languages, effectively excluding journalists who write or produce programmes in Welsh, Catalan, Basque and many other languages that haven't yet achieved full official status.
The Plaid MEP, who represents the whole of Wales in the European Parliament, wants the rules changed to allow Welsh language journalism to be considered and has teamed up with other MEPs from across Europe in an appeal to the President of the European Parliament. They have asked that the rules be urgently amended and have claimed that excluding non-official languages may be in breach of European law and contrary to other resolutions supported by the Parliament. In a letter to the European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering the MEP point out that the current rules may be in breach of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. They also highlight the implications of a European Directive on Equal Treatment based on racial or ethnic origin as well as the Treaty of Lisbon.
Jill Evans, who successfully campaigned for co-official status for Welsh and is campaigning for full official EU status for the language, said:
"This award is a great idea but it makes no sense at all to exclude Welsh language journalism from taking part. We have a very high standard of Welsh and English language media in Wales, both print and broadcast, who regularly cover European issues. I find it extremely unfair and counterproductive to effectively ban Welsh language journalists from entering this competition.
"I am hopeful that the European Parliament will change its rules. This is not just for legal reasons but to recognise the important contribution made by journalism in the European Union's many unofficial but widely spoken languages.
"If articles and programmes produced in Swedish, Maltese, Irish or Danish can be put forward, then why not Welsh? We produce journalism of a high quality in the Welsh language and this should be recognised at European level. This is all the more relevant in the week when the One Wales Government published landmark draft legislation to boost the status of Welsh."
Diwedd/Ends.
NOTES
On 15 January 2009 the European Parliament Prize for Journalism was launched for the second time. Under the Rules of the Prize, articles or reports eligible for the award of the Prize shall be in one of the official languages of the European Union. This excludes the many examples of print and broadcast journalism produced in Welsh and many other languages which have not yet achieved official EU language status.
In its Resolution on a new framework strategy for multilingualism adopted in November 2006 the European Parliament declared that proposals for multilingualism should not be limited to the main official/ Member State languages. The Treaty of Lisbon stipulates that the EU is based, inter alia, on the values of respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. The Charter of Fundamental Rights declares that any discrimination based on any grounds such as ethnic origin, language or membership of a national minority shall be prohibited; the Union shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity. In our opinion, the Rules of the Prize undermine those principles.
There are also implications concerning the Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. It prohibits indirect discrimination: situations where an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons of a racial or ethnic origin at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons, unless that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.
