The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has endorsed this Wednesday that a Member State of the European Union requires the use of its official language in higher education to protect national identity, provided that this restriction is “proportionate” and contemplates exceptions .
In a sentence, the European justice considers that this limitation is justified to promote and encourage the use of the official language of a Member State, in line with the defense of the national identity of the EU countries.
The Luxembourg-based court thus rules on the obligation in Latvia to teach classes in Latvian, in the case of a private university that intends to settle in the country and offer classes in a non-official language.
In any case, it points out that the restriction cannot “go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective pursued” of protecting the language, so it must be guaranteed that a language other than the official one can be used in university education.
Regarding the exceptions, the CJEU points out that the use of a language other than Latvian should be allowed, at least with regard to training provided in the framework of European or international cooperation and training and in matters of culture and languages.
Source: Europa Press
