From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unió Llatina
Unión Latina
Union Latine
Unione Latina
União Latina
Uniunea Latină

Logo of the Latin Union
Location of the Latin Union
Official languages	Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian
General Secretariat	Bernardino Osio
Established	15 May 1954
Member states	37 (plus 3 observers)
Headquarters	Paris, France
Official site	The Latin Union

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 with the signing of a constituent agreement in Madrid, Spain, 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 Union Latine in French, Unione Latina in Italian, União Latina in Portuguese, Uniunea Latină in Romanian, Unión Latina in Spanish and Unió Llatina in Catalan.

Contents 1 Criteria 2 Member states 3 Permanent observers 4 See also 5 External links

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.

The Latin Union currently has members from four continents (listed by the Romance language that is spoken there):

• Catalan (Català)
  •  Andorra
  •  Spain

• French (Français)
  •  Côte d'Ivoire
  •  France
  •  Haiti
  •  Monaco
  •  Senegal

• Italian (Italiano)
  •  Italy
  •  San Marino
  •  Vatican City

• Latin (Latin)
  •  Vatican City

• Portuguese (Português)
  •  Angola
  •  Brazil
  •  Cape Verde
  •  Guinea-Bissau
  •  Mozambique
  •  Portugal
  •  São Tomé and Príncipe
  •  Timor-Leste

• Romanian (Română)
  •  Moldova
  •  Romania

• Spanish (Castellano;Español)
  •  Bolivia
  •  Chile
  •  Colombia
  •  Costa Rica
  •  Cuba
  •  Dominican Republic
  •  Ecuador
  •  El Salvador
  •  Guatemala
  •  Honduras
  •  Mexico
  •  Nicaragua
  •  Panama
  •  Paraguay
  •  Peru
  •  Philippines
  •  Spain
  •  Uruguay
  •  Venezuela

The official languages of the Latin Union are French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian. The first 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 also includes the Catalan version of the name (Unió Llatina), since Andorra is now a member and Catalan is the only official language in that state.

• Argentina
• Holy See
• Sovereign Military Order of Malta

• Community of Portuguese Language Countries
• La Francophonie
• Organization of Ibero-American States
• Romance languages
• Latin Africa
• Latin Asia
• Latin America
• Latin Europe
• Latin Monetary Union
• Interlingua

• Official site