It was a vote with a mainly exploratory nature, but it was also a milestone. The French National Assembly yesterday approved a constitutional bill aimed at including the possibility of ratifying the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) into the French Constitution. This could open the door to further protection and promotion for minorised languages there -only for native languages, not for migrant languages.

Yet, the road is long and uncertain. Over the coming months the the Senate needs to vote the bill, and after that, it must be re-taken by the French Government and voted in a final meeting of the whole French Parliament (Assembly and Senate) in Versailles. Some clues are important in order to understand the whole process:

An election promise by Hollande. French President François Hollande pledged to ratify the European Charter during the 2012 election campaign. Hollande said then that he wised to implement a "clear and stable legal framework" for "all regional languages". France signed the Charter in 1999, during the tenure of President Lionel Jospin, himself a socialist. Ratifying the ECRML means that the French Republic becomes officially committed to implement measures for the protection and promotion of those languages​​. In no case does the ratification of the Charter automatically imply that Catalan, Breton or Corsican become official languages in France.

Changing the Constitution. By the end of 2012, France's Committee on Constitutional Laws issued a report warning that the ECRML could not be signed if an amendment to the French Constitution was not approved before. Constitutional amendments in France require a majority of three fifths of all MPs -i. e. Assembly members and Senate members altogether.

Exploring whether a majority exists. AMs in favor of ratifying the Charter yesterday wanted to know if it was realistic to think that the majority of three fifths could be achieved. In this respect, the Assembly drew a large majority: 361 votes in favor and 149 against. The vast majority of left AMs yesterday supported the bill, while the right was further split -many AMs voted against, but Breton and Alsatian AMs cast a "yes" vote.

Towards the Senate. The bill will now go to the Senate. If the vote is delayed a few months, the Senate make up will be different than is now, since half of the chamber will be renewed in September 2014 senatorial election. Opinion polls say that rightist parties could progress, which could endanger the three fifths majority.

Government bill. If nevertheless the Senate does not block the process, then the French Government will draft its own constitutional bill and will submit it to the approval of the whole meeting of the French Parliament (Senate plus National Assembly). It is at this point that the three fifths majority will be really essential. It must be said that the only thing that will then change is the fact that the French Government will be allowed to ratify the ECRML, but in no case will be forced to do so.

Less than half of the articles. The French Government has no intention to sign the majority of ECRML articles. In this interview, Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti recalls that France signed in 1999 only 39 of the 98 measures included in the text. This means that the Charter will provide less protection for languages than it does in other countries where governments have ratified all or much of the text -Spain for instance. In fact, Filippetti admits that ratifying the Charter will change little, since most of those 39 measures are already possible with current French laws, including bilingual education. Breton and Corsican sources have told Nationalia that they fear that the French Government will in fact use the ratification of the Charter to impose new limitations on the promotion of minority languages​​. Conversely, Bretonist AM Paul Molac says the process is a positive one, since he believes that the ECRML will allow the adoption of "laws on language policies" favoring those languages.