Deputies Paul Molac (Morbihan) and Peio Dufau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) submitted, on October 5, a constitutional bill aimed at "guaranteeing the use, protection, and promotion of regional languages within the Republic."
The text aims to amend Article 2 of the Constitution, which has stated since 1992 that "the language of the Republic is French." According to Peio Dufau, this provision, initially introduced to protect French against English and anglicisms, has become, due to the interpretation of the Constitutional Council, an obstacle to the development of public policies in favor of regional languages.
This issue notably resurfaced in 2021 when the Constitutional Council censored part of the law proposed by Paul Molac on the protection and promotion of regional languages, particularly provisions concerning immersive education.
The proposal therefore seeks to remove this constitutional obstacle in order to allow legislators and local authorities to more broadly develop the use and teaching of Breton, Basque, Corsican, Occitan, and other regional languages.
The text, registered under number 3216, has been referred to the Law Commission of the National Assembly.
