Brussels, 12/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - A delegation from the Region of Venetia met European Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban last week, to discuss the importance of multilingualism in helping immigrants to better integrate and the opportunities that a knowledge of languages offers young people. They also discussed how to protect and safeguard Venetian (Veneto). The European Union supports and encourages linguistic diversity and also regional and minority languages, the Commissioner said, adding, however, that, under the principle of subsidiarity, recognition of Venetian was a matter for the Italian government. The European Social Fund provided funding for the development of linguistic training programmes in both the host country and the country of origin to help immigrants integrate, Orban pointed out, and he encouraged the use of this kind of instrument. Finally, the representatives of the Region of Venetia presented two regional projects involving young people and language learning, which they hope will develop and grow with Commission support. Commissioner Orban showed interest in these projects and promised to give thought as to how they could be financed and developed. (I.L.)