Mercator is a network of three research and documentation centres dealing with the regional and minority languages which are spoken by more than forty million citizens of the European Union. It was set up following the Kuijpers Resolution in the European Parliament and has developed in parallel with subsequent EU and Council of Europe policies for the protection of minorities, equal citizenship, the promotion of linguistic diversity, and access to the information society.
The network's mission is to provide reliable objective information about the minority languages both to the majority-language populations and to the minorities themselves for whom the data provide the basis for cross-border contacts and long-term strategies. Good information is the necessary basis for constructive policies and conflict resolution which the centres actively promote.
Each of the three centres has its own thematic programme and specialist role: Mercator-Education at the Fryske Akademy (Ljouwert NL) studies education at all levels; Mercator-Legislation at the CIEMEN foundation, Barcelona (E), is concerned with language legislation and language in public administration; while Mercator-Media at University of Wales Aberystwyth deals with press and media including the new media. The mission statements of the individual centres can be found below.
The centres are linked electronically, the staff meet regularly, and present a common face to the world on the Internet. Each serves a specialist constituency but at the same time the data is available to the general public. The Mercator centres also work closely with the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages, the representative organization of the European inguistic minorities, for whom they provide in-depth specialist back-up.