Is it better to do nothing than to start something? And to persevere.

“We share your goal of protecting linguistic diversity. We will also carefully consider the issue you raised as part of the evaluation process, and we will be happy to continue to work with you to resolve it.”

In the paragraph above, you read the essence of the response of the authorities, Vice-President of the European Commission Vera Jourova and European Commissioner Thierry Breton, to my appeal to amend European legislation so that we finally – systematically and explicitly – ban linguistic discrimination.

You know that I’ve been working for a long time to ensure that all multinationals operating in the European Union market begin to respect the equality of the official languages of that same market, but it’s more than obvious that this won’t work without legal coercion.

I therefore certainly welcome the fact that the European Commission, with whom I have been in discussions (and agreements) for some time on how to legally resolve this problem, will examine my proposals for the revision of the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive. I also appreciate the willingness of the Vice-President and the Commissioner to involve me in the further procedures.

It is precisely because of their response that we now have the black and white: the ban on linguistic discrimination WILL be legislated at the European level. Many of you are asking me why it hasn’t been yet. Rightly so, but unfortunately the European legislative process is taking a looooong time. And unfortunately I can’t influence it as much as I would like. But…

…is it really better to do nothing than to start something? And to persevere. And believe me, I will.

The letter, which – including the remaining details – you can find here, is a very clear signal from the highest level of the European Union executive that … it is possible.

– Irena