Of the 427 representatives present, 236 voted in favor of the project, 186 opposed it, and five abstained from voting. The majority of members of the main opposition party, PiS, K15 and the Union, as well as an independent representative, opposed the adoption of the project.
According to the legislation now before the Senate, the traditional language of the Silesian region in the southwestern part of Poland will be included as a regional language in the National Minorities Law.
Until now, only the Kashy language, widespread along the Baltic Sea, had such status in Poland.
After modification Double place and street names will be used in places where at least 20 percent of the population declare that they speak the Silesian languageVoluntary language instruction will be offered in schools, and initiatives aimed at nurturing the regional language will be funded.
During the parliamentary debate, PiS representatives claimed that Silesian is not a language, but a dialect, and that changing its status is politically motivated.
The draft was submitted by representatives of the faction leading the government coalition, the Civic Coalition, at the beginning of the year. A total of eight similar proposals have appeared since 2007, none of which have been approved by the House of Representatives, nor have they been placed on the agenda, among other things, due to the end of the specified parliamentary term.
In the 2021 census, more than 467,000 people in Poland indicated that they used the Silesian language in their daily lives, and nearly 55,000 of them claimed to speak only this language.
Cover image source: Getty Images
