The Occitan Nation Party is delighted with the final vote by the French National Assembly of the Molac law

Molac Law:

a victory for all the promoters of France’s languages

The Occitan Nation Party is delighted with the final vote by the French National Assembly of the Molac law (a Breton deputy of the Libertés et Territoires group) on the protection of the heritage represented by regional languages and the promotion of them.

Deputies adopted it by a large majority (247 ayes, 76 noes).

This positive vote was obtained despite the opposition of the government and especially the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, a fierce centralist.

The law was one of the president's unfulfilled campaign promises.

The Occitan Nation Party notes that the French government unsurprisingly received the unconditional support of the two extremes of the political spectrum in the Assembly: the far-right Rassemblement National and far-left La France Insoumise, whose common point is their French chauvinism and hostility to regional languages.  

Now the law must be enacted as soon as possible and the French government must not drag its feet.

This means that the ministry of National education must significantly increase the ridiculously low number of teaching posts for regional languages in the teacher competitive recruitment exams to meet the demand.

This is a great day for the so-called regional languages, which it would be more accurate to call languages of France.

In public education, the Molac law authorizes the immersion teaching of regional languages, which the Ministry of National Education had always refused.

The Molac law also introduces a compulsory fixed rate for the benefit of association schools such as the Calandretas in Occitania.

This means that the pupils' municipalities of residence will have to pay a contribution to the host schools.

The Molac law provides for the possibility of establishing agreements between the state and the regions for the teaching of so-called regional languages.

Regional languages will be taught on an optional basis as part of the normal timetable in nursery and elementary schools, secondary schools (collèges) and comprehensive schools.

Social demand, minimised by the Ministry of National Education, is in fact strong as will be demonstrated soon.

For the Occitan Nation Party, this law is a first important step towards the respect of linguistic diversity in the French Republic,  a diversity so much vaunted and promoted by France and the Francophonie movement in international forums, but non-existent on its territory according to the well-known principle: do as I say and do not do as I do.

The next step is to make the languages of France official throughout the French Republic.

Molac Law