The Dutch Minister for Home Affairs, Guusje ter Horst, has recently announced that she "will explore the possibility of including the Frisian language in the constitution," Eurolang reports. The announcement comes two weeks after Friesland's political parties launched a campaign in response to Ter Horst's proposal to add a reference to the Dutch language, and only the Dutch language, to the constitution.

No languages are currently mentioned in the Dutch constitution, but the official status of Dutch throughout the Netherlands is protected by law and Frisian is official in the province of Friesland. Two weeks ago, however, Guusje ter Horst revealed plans to "protect" Dutch by mentioning the language explicitly in the constitution. Frisian parties responded by creating the Action Group for Frisian in the Constitution (Aksjekomitee Frysk yn ‘e grûnwet) and began talks with state-wide parties to encourage them not to back a constitutional amendment without a reference to Frisian.

A protest held on Wednesday in The Hague was attended by activists and representatives of Frisian cultural life. Yielding to political pressure, the Dutch Parliament's Internal Affairs Committee asked Ter Horst to examine the issue of languages in the constitution "with an open mind".

According to Eurolang, the Frisian parties are backed by all of the opposition parties in the Dutch Parliament. As a result, the governing coalition has little chance of securing the two-thirds majority required for the motion to be passed. Speaking on behalf of the Frisian parties, Geart Benedictus said that he was pleased that "Frisian is on the political agenda now" and emphasized the need for "Frisian to have the same rights as Dutch".

Further information:

• Eurolang: Dutch Minister to consider recognising Frisian in the Dutch Constitution
• DutchNews.nl: Friesian speakers lobby for equal rights
• Resolution issued by the Youth European Nationalities (YEN)
• Information on Frisian language in Mercator and in Linguamón.