The Latin Union is an
international organization of nations that use
Romance languages, whose activities have been suspended since 2012. Headquartered in
Paris,
France, its aim is to protect, project, and promote the common cultural heritage of
Romance peoples and unifying identities of the
Romance, and Romance-influenced, world. It was created in 1954 in
Madrid,
Spain. It started to operate in 1983 and its membership rose from 12 to 36 states, including countries in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
South America,
Northern Europe
The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
,
Southern Europe,
Africa, and the
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...
region.
The official names of the Latin Union were: in
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, in
Italian, in
Portuguese, in
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
, in
Spanish, and in
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
.
Due to financial difficulties, the Latin Union announced on 26 January 2012 the suspension of its activities, the dissolution of its Secretariat General (effective 31 July 2012) and termination of employment for all the organization's personnel.
"Disolución de la Secretaría General de la Unión Latina"
''Unión Latina'', accessed 2012-06-10.
Membership
According to the Latin Union's website, membership was open to any nation that met the following criteria:
* Linguistic criteria:
**Latin-derived language as official language, used in education, and commonly used in the mass media or in daily life
*Linguistic/cultural criteria:
**Existence of significant literature in a Latin-derived language
**Press
Press may refer to:
Media
* Print media or news media, commonly called "the press"
* Printing press, commonly called "the press"
* Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers
* Press TV, an Iranian television network
People
* Press (surname), a famil ...
and publication in Latin-derived language
** Television with a strong proportion of the programming in a Latin-derived language
** Radio widely broadcast in a Latin-derived language
*Cultural criteria :
**Direct or indirect inheritance of the legacy of Ancient Rome, to which the state remains faithful and which it perpetuates mainly through the education of Latin
**Cultural
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
education of Latin-derived foreign languages
**Exchange programmes with other Latin countries
**Societal organization, particularly in the legal plane, based on respect for fundamental liberties, the general principles of human rights and democracy, tolerance, and freedom of religion
Official languages
The official languages of the Latin Union were Spanish, French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
, and Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
. Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese were used as working languages. All the texts of general diffusion were translated into these four languages, with some also going into Romanian and Catalan.
Member states
Spanish
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
*
*
*
*
*
Portuguese
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Italian
*
*
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
*
*
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
*
* Catalan is also co-official in Catalonia, Valencian Community, Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
and some other areas of Spain and in Alguer
Alghero (; ca, label= Alguerese, L'Alguer ; sc, S'Alighèra ; sdc, L'Aliera ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ...
( Italy).
* Also spoken in Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...
, France.
Observers
*
*
*
*
Organization
The Union was composed of three main bodies, namely, the Congress, the Executive Council, and the General Secretariat.
Congress
The Congress, which consisted of the representatives of all the Member States, met in ordinary assembly every two years. Its main functions were
* to adopt the budget,
* to define the general direction of the Union,
* to receive the new Member States formally, and
* to elect and appoint different Member States to be the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and members of the sub-organisations of the Union.
A President and two Vice-Presidents were also elected by the Congress. Oleg Serebrian
Oleg Serebrian (born 13 July 1969, Hădărăuți) is a Moldovan politician, writer, diplomat and political scientist, President of the Latin Union between 2010 and 2012.
Biography
He studied law and history at the Ion Creangă State Pedagogi ...
from the Republic of Moldova was the last President.
There were also two auxiliary bodies of the Congress, namely, the Commission of Adhesions and the Commission of Candidacies.
* The Commission of Adhesions was composed of 10 Member States and was responsible for promoting the adherence of all the Member States of the Union.
* The Commission of Candidacies was composed of 9 Member States and was responsible for examining the validity of the candidacies, taking account of the geographical and linguistic-cultural division.
Executive Council
The Executive Council was the executive branch of the Union. It consisted of 12 Member States, which were elected by the Congress every four years, and led by a President and two Vice-Presidents, which were also elected by the Congress.
There were also two auxiliary commissions subordinated to the Executive Council:
* The Commission of Finance and Programmes
* The Commission of Statues
General Secretariat
The Latin Union was directed by a Secretary-General appointed every four years by the Congress. The Secretary was in charge of the execution of the programmes and implemented the decisions made by the Congress and the Executive Council in the matter of budget and general direction. Jose Luis Dicenta Ballester was at one time Secretary-General of the Union.
Subordinated to the Secretary-General, there were 4 directors:
* Director of Administration and Finance
* Director of Culture and Communication
* Director of Promotion and Education of the Languages
* Director of Terminology and Industry of the Language
Finance
The finance of the Union was mainly supported by the obligatory contributions from the Member States. For some activities, the Union may have collaborated with other public or private institutions.
See also
* Community of Portuguese Language Countries
** Lusophone
Lusophones ( pt, Lusófonos) are ethnic group, peoples that speak Portuguese language, Portuguese as a native language, native or as common second language and nations where Portuguese features prominently in society. Comprising an estimated 270 m ...
* Italic peoples
* Latin America
* Latin Bloc (proposed alliance) The Latin Bloc ( it, Blocco Latino; french: Bloc Latin; es, Bloque Latino; pt, Bloco Latino; ro, Blocul Latin) was a proposal for an alliance made between the 1920s to the 1940s that began with Italy's ''Duce'' Benito Mussolini proposing such a b ...
* Latin Monetary Union
* Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
* Organization of Ibero-American States
The Organization of Ibero-American States ( es, Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, pt, Organização de Estados Iberoamericanos, ca, Organització d'Estats Iberoamericans; abbreviated as OEI), formally the Organization of Ibero-American ...
** Association of Academies of the Spanish Language
The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language ( es, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, ASALE) is an entity whose end is to work for the unity, integrity, and growth of the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 an ...
** Hispanic
** Hispanidad
** Hispanic America
** Ibero-America
** Panhispanism
Panhispanism (Spanish: ''panhispanismo'') (usually just called "hispanism" (Spanish: ''hispanismo'')) is a political trend aimed to achieve social, economic, and political cooperation, as well as often political unification, of the Spanish-speaki ...
* Pan-Latinism
* Romance languages
* Romance-speaking world
* United States of Latin Africa
The United States of Latin Africa ( French: ''États-Unis de l'Afrique latine'', Portuguese: ''Estados Unidos da África Latina'', Spanish: ''Estados Unidos de África Latina'') was the proposed union of Romance-language-speaking Central African ...
References
External links
Official site
{{Authority control
Intergovernmental organizations
Latin America
Spanish language
French language
Italian language
Portuguese language
Romanian language
Country classifications
Organizations established in 1954
Organizations disestablished in 2012
Former confederations
Organizations based in Paris
1954 establishments in Spain
Catalan language