Legal Aspects of the European Union Language Policy

Authors

Pages

123-144

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the legal aspects of the European Union’s language policy. In particular, the article attempts to answer the question whether language policy is a source of language rights for the Union citizens. The first part of the article presents key terms of the language policy of the European Union such as linguistic diversity and multilingualism. Secondly, the article examines the meaning of the notion of language policy, presents its components and puts it into the context of the European Union. Thirdly, legal aspects of the language policy of the European Union are presented. Such aspects include the legal framework for EU language policy and the Union’s powers in language matters. On this basis, the author presents a catalogue of language rights resulting from the EU language policy.