The Bonnets Rouges Bretonist movement set on Saturday eleven "main demands" for the future of Brittany, after its members and supporters gathered in Morlaix to analyze some 15,000 demands collected by local committees since December. The group asked French President Franois Hollande to "promptly" travel to Brittany in order to "listen" to the Breton proposals.

Those new eleven proposals are an extension of four main demands set by Live, Work and Decide in Brittany (the group that propelled the Bonnets Rouges) last year. This weekend's claims are more specific, raise the bar if compared to former demands and, in fact, accept some key historical Bretonist proposals: "official status for Breton language and culture", " relocation of political decisions" and "giving Brittany its own audiovisual and digital media" among them. According to the group, those decisions should be made in the context of a "strong, five-department Brittany". That is, a reunified Brittany: the historically Breton department of Loire-Atlantique is now included into neighbouring Pays de la Loire region.

The dossier that the Bonnets Rouges circulated on Saturday among more than 3,000 participants also shelled ideas contributed by local committees. Some of them might prove very hard to swallow for convinced centralists: regionalization of taxes and education, establishing a Breton Parliament with legislative powers, creating a Breton bank,and multiplying Brittany's budget by 30.

New demonstration on April 19th

One of those eleven core demands, reunification, will be the main focus for the demonstration to be held on April 19th in Nantes. The protest had been earlier called by Brittany Reunited and 44=Breizh groups, the Bonnets Rouges have decided to join them. Protesters will explicit their rejection of the current separation of Brittany, and will also voice opposition to any change in France's regional map leading to a merger of Brittany, Pays de la  Loire and Poitou-Charentes.

Since Hollande announced that the number of official regions of France would be reduced, the Bretonist political movement fears that Brittany could be subsumed into a newly established, single Great West region.

(Image: meeting of the Bonnets Rouges on Saturday / picture by Gaël Cloarec/7seizh.info.)

Further information:

• Follow up on Nationalia:Breton 'bonnets rouges' demonstrate again for local jobs, businesses and After the 'red cap demonstration', voices rise for Brittany's ability to decide