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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ASSEMBLÉE PARLEMENTAIRE DE LA FRANCOPHONIE BY DEPUTY M. TADIER OF ST. BRELADE
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 12th APRIL 2016
Question
Will the President state how many of the current 49 elected States Members have a verified level of competence in French, including who those are and to what level? Is there a sufficient proportion of Francophone members to justify the bilingual status of the States Assembly and its membership of the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF)?
If no member of the Assembly spoke French, would it be possible for the States to remain a member of the APF? If not, what would the minimum number of Francophone members need to be before membership of the APF was deemed unviable?
Answer
Membership of the APF is open to jurisdictions whose official or administrative language is French, or where French is currently spoken. Jersey qualifies for full membership because French is an official language of the island. There is no requirement for a certain proportion of parliamentarians in APF member countries to speak French to a set standard.
Jersey continues to play an active part in the APF, including hosting 50 delegates to the APF's Europe regional conference in October 2015.
The Alliance Française holds information about the level of competence in French of States Members. It is currently closed for Easter but the information the Member has requested will be made available as soon as it reopens.
Additional information about States Members' proficiency in French circulated to members via email on 18th April 2016:
The Alliance Française assesses French speakers in terms of being basic, independent or proficient users of the language. Current States Members have been, or are in the process of being, assessed at the following levels: Basic 8, Independent 7, Proficient 2. It is likely that there are States Members who speak French but have not been assessed by the Alliance.