Latin Union

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The Latin Union is an international organization of nations that use a Romance language. Its aim is to protect, project, and promote the common heritage and unifying identities of the Latin, and Latin-influenced, world. It was created in 1954 and it has existed as a functional institution since 1983. Since that time its member states have risen from 12 to 37, and its membership now covers all parts of the world.

The official names of the Latin Union are Unió Llatina in Catalan, Union Latine in French, Unione Latina in Italian, União Latina in Portuguese, Uniunea Latină in Romanian, Unión Latina in Spanish.

Criteria

According to the Latin Union's website, membership is open to any nation that meets the following criteria:

Linguistic criteria

Official language derived from Latin
Latin-derived language used in education
Latin-derived language commonly used in the mass media or in daily life

Linguistic/cultural criteria

Existence of significant literature in a Latin-derived language
Press and publication in Latin-derived language
Television with a strong proportion of the programming in a Latin-derived language
Radio widely broadcast in a Latin-derived language

Cultural criteria

Direct or indirect inheritance of the legacy of Ancient Rome, to which the state remains faithful and which it perpetuates mainly through the education of Latin
Cultural education of Latin-derived foreign languages
Interchanges with other Latin countries
Societal organization, particularly in the legal plane, based on respect for fundamental liberties, the general principles of human rights and democracy, tolerance and freedom of religion.

Member states

The Latin Union currently has members from seven continents, if territorial claims of Argentina, Chile and France to Antarctica are valid (listed by the Romance language that is spoken there):

Catalan (Català)

French (Français)

Italian (Italiano)

Portuguese (Português)

Romanian (Română)

Spanish (Castellano, Español)

Official languages

The official languages of the Latin Union are Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian. The middle four are used as working languages. All the texts of general diffusion are translated into these four languages, with some also going into Catalan and Romanian. The logo of Latin Union has recently included the Catalan version of the name (Unió Llatina), since Andorra is now a member and Catalan is the only official language in that state.

Permanent observers

Sovereign Military Order of Malta

External links

Official site