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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 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 35, and its membership now covers all parts of the world.

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

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 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 four continents (listed by the Romance language that is spoken there):

*Spanish (Español)
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*French (Français)
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*Italian (Italiano)
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**22px Order of Malta (permanent observer)

*Portuguese (Português)
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*Romanian (Română)
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*Catalan (Català)
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The official languages of the Latin Union are Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese 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 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.

See also

* Community of Portuguese Language Countries
* La Francophonie
* Organization of Ibero-American States
* Romance languages
* Latin America
* Latin Europe

External links

* Official site

Category:International organizations
Category:Latin America