The Latin Union[a] is an international organization of nations that use Romance languages,[2] whose activities have been suspended since 2012. Headquartered in Paris, France, it aims to protect, project, and promote the common cultural heritage of Latin peoples and unifying identities of the Romance, and Romance-influenced, world. It was created in 1954 in Madrid, Spain. It started to operate in 1983 and its membership rose from 12 to 36 states, including countries in North America, South America, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region.[3]
Due to financial difficulties, the Latin Union announced on 26 January 2012 the suspension of its activities, the dissolution of its Secretariat General (effective 31 July 2012), and the termination of employment for all the organization's personnel.[4]
According to the Latin Union's website, membership was open to any nation that met the following criteria:
The official languages of the Latin Union were Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Catalan. Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese were used as working languages. All the texts of general diffusion were translated into these four languages, with some also going into Romanian and Catalan.
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AndorraThe Union was composed of three main bodies, namely, the Congress, the Executive Council, and the General Secretariat.
The Congress, which consisted of the representatives of all the Member States, met in ordinary assembly every two years. Its main functions were
A President and two Vice-Presidents were also elected by the Congress. Oleg Serebrian from the Republic of Moldova was the last President.
There were also two auxiliary bodies of the Congress, namely, the Commission of Adhesions and the Commission of Candidacies.
The Executive Council was the executive branch of the Union. It consisted of 12 Member States, which were elected by the Congress every four years, and led by a President and two Vice-Presidents, which were also elected by the Congress.
There were also two auxiliary commissions subordinated to the Executive Council:
The Latin Union was directed by a Secretary-General appointed every four years by the Congress. The Secretary was in charge of the execution of the programmes and implemented the decisions made by the Congress and the Executive Council in the matter of budget and general direction. Jose Luis Dicenta Ballester was at one time Secretary-General of the Union.
Subordinated to the Secretary-General, there were 4 directors:
The finance of the Union was mainly supported by obligatory contributions from the Member States. For some activities, the Union may have collaborated with other public or private institutions.
