250 word summary of sections 1 + 2 of the article "Jacobins, Regionalists and the Council of Europe's Charter for Regional and Minority Languages"

In 1992, the council of Europe's charter was introduced which was an agreement for the protection of regional and minority languages. Its main aim was to fight for linguistic diversity and equality within Europe. The government wanted regional languages to be implemented into many fields; including education, the media, local authorities and the justice system.

France, rather hypocritically, was always fighting for linguistic diversity within Europe (by fighting against the English language becoming the lingua franca) but refused to recognise the significance of French regional and minority languages; stating that "la langue de la République est le francais."

In July 1998, Bernard Poignant (Major of Breton) devised a report advising the government to support and promote regional languages in France, this lead to the optional teaching of minority languages within schools, although it was strictly forbidden for these languages to be taught during the school day, only extra-curricular (with private tutoring).

Upon signing the charter, France agreed to 39 of 94 articles (the minimum was 35). France only agreed 'mildly' to the charter according to EU standards. Following this, only the most important texts were made available in regional languages but had to be published in French too. 

In 1999, Jacques Chirac refused to ratify the charter, indicating that the French language was one of the state and therefore most important to protect and promote which meant that regional languages could not be implemented into mainstream use. Opinions of this were completely divided across France, but sides on this matter were surprisingly unrelated to politics.