Breton identity, transmission and cohesion

42

An open membership, a shared responsibility

Levrig 2027
Trajectory 2027-2032

NB: «For the sake of fluidity and concision, In this text, the masculine is used to encompass all genders.».

The essentials

For Yes Breizh, Breton identity is neither an origin, nor an ethnicity, nor a certificate of cultural conformity. It is a belonging: being Breton or Breton, the person who chooses Brittany as a community of destiny respects its history, contributes to its present, and wishes to build its future.

Reference	Data or teaching	Societal reading
Population Brittany-4	+0.6 % per year between 2017 and 2023, that is approximately +21,700 inhabitants per year	Growth due to the migration balance: welcoming and integrating are structural factors
High school demographics	More than 1,300 fewer high school students projected between 2026 and 2038	Transforming high schools into places of life without irreversible decisions
Student numbers 2023	119,139 students, including 10,537 agricultural students, 452 maritime students and 223 at the naval high school	Conventional projections do not encompass the entire system
Fertility	1.55 children per woman in Brittany in 2024	Generational renewal becomes a long-term issue
Lesson from Glenmor	Membership can be chosen; language and identity are not synonymous.	Breton speakers, Gallo speakers and non-speakers belong to the same community as long as they commit themselves to it.
The Corsican counter-example	Threats from a clandestine group against newcomers	Absolute rejection of violence, ethnicization and exclusion

The demographic figures cited refer to the administrative region of four Départements. The first project involves building a Brittany-5 reference area, including the Loire-Atlantique department.

1. Defining a civic and open identity

A belonging, not an ancestry

According to Yes Breizh (thus repeating the words of Glenmor), place of birth, name, genealogy or the language spoken do not confer any higher political status. The person who arrived yesterday can become a full-fledged Breton by his commitment, his participation in the future of our nation, while birth alone does not absolve from any responsibility towards the country (without guaranteeing it)¹).

Belongs that add up

One can be Breton, French, European and a citizen of the world. These affiliations are not parts of a cake, but different relationships. The Breton project must protect the freedom of everyone to identify themselves with this identity, or not.

According to Yes Breizh, there is a duty of transmission

• To receive history without mythologizing it and to teach it without instrumentalizing it.
• Protecting languages, landscapes, and tangible and intangible heritage.
• To bring solidarity, democracy, creativity and maritime openness to life.
• To transmit an enriched Brittany rather than a static image of the past.

2. Clear and sensible red lines for Yes Breizh

• No racial, religious, genealogical or «blood» based definition.
• There is no hierarchy of rights between natives and newcomers.
• No violence or intimidation in the name of Brittany.
• There is no obligation to speak Breton or Gallo in order to be recognized as a Breton.
• No official history is hidden from research, debate, and pluralism.

3. Transmitting history, languages and symbols

Axis	Measures 2027-2032	Warranty
History and geography	Scientifically validated resources; teacher training; local courses	Pluralism among historians and separation between knowledge and propaganda
Breton	Continuity of channels, training, media, public life and certification	Freedom of choice; access throughout Brittany.
Gallo	Teaching, collection, creation, signage and media presence	Equal dignity; taking the Haute-Bretagne region into account
Heritage	Inventory of Brittany-5: maritime, industrial, religious and popular heritage	Conservation, contemporary use and accessibility
Symbols and civic rituals	Ceremonies, festivals, Gwenn-ha-du, national anthem, welcoming of new residents	Inclusive, non-partisan, and voluntary use

Yes Breizh, referring once again to Glenmor, has the strong conviction that the language enriches identity without constituting a test of belonging.

But Yes Breizh, this time referring to Patrick Le Lay, considers that Brittany should not be dreamed up, but create its own future by linking memory, present uses and future creation.

4. Welcoming and participating in Breton society

Yes Breizh proposes to:

• create an optional civic orientation course: history, institutions, languages, associations, rights and services;
• making available a multilingual booklet «Living and acting in Brittany» and local meetings;
• support the sponsorship between residents, associations, businesses and newcomers;
• provide rapid access to French, Breton or Gallo;
• measure discrimination, sense of belonging and participation without labeling origins;
• to link the Breton diasporas and people from elsewhere to economic, cultural and civic projects.

A reciprocal integration

According to Yes Breizh, anyone wishing to settle in Brittany can be welcomed there as long as they respect everything that makes Brittany unique: its history, its languages, its places, its names, its memory, and the common rules of our way of life.

Brittany then welcomes this person in his or her full dignity, with their contributions and their right to participate in the future of Brittany.

This reciprocity replaces the stigmatizing expressions aimed at «immigrants» inside or outside France. For Yes Breizh, an «immigrant» from France has just as many rights and duties as an «immigrant» from elsewhere.

5. Making educational places from the houses of Brittany

CESER projects a drop of more than 1,300 high school students per year between 2026 and 2038, but insists on the uncertainties regarding migration and schooling. The building decisions must therefore remain reversible, according to Yes Breizh.

• By convention, high schools are opened in the evening, on weekends and during certain holidays for associations, arts, sports and adult training programs.
• Preserve the territorial network, boarding schools and transport before any closure.
• Transforming underutilized spaces into learning hubs, media libraries, language workshops, and intergenerational spaces.
• Mapping the technical areas and not closing them until the students’ choices, employment needs and demographic scenarios have been analyzed.
• Transforming each high school into a meeting point between local memory, contemporary culture and European openness.

6. A living culture and a power of creation

Domain	Structural action	Expected result
Creation	Multiannual contracts for music, books, audiovisual content, arts, video games and design	Works produced and distributed in Brittany and outside Brittany
Media	Breton editorial ecosystem, content in French, Breton and Gallo	Pluralism, visibility and renewal of audiences
Living heritage	Transmission of gestures, chants, dances, stories and know-how	Practitioners, art masters and accessible archives
Cultural economy	Public procurement, training and exports	Localized jobs, companies and copyright
Intercelticism	Cooperations with Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the diasporas	Co-productions, exchanges and sustainable networks

7. What inspires Yes Breizh coming from our cousins from across the Channel

• Yes Breizh presents the nation as a community of people living in Brittany and responsible for its future. It in no way excludes other nations or regions of France or Europe.
• Yes Breizh links prosperity, social justice, public services and confidence in Brittany rather than reducing identity to symbols.
• Yes Breizh recognizes the rural and island communities as being completely part of our Breton identity and our economy.
• Yes Breizh agrees to welcome refugees and people who contribute to Breton society, in accordance with human rights.
• Yes Breizh considers the creative sectors to be both a cultural treasure, an economic activity and a force for social renewal.
• Yes Breizh must ensure the existence of decentralization towards the local communities and the maintenance of the human and cultural wealth circulating throughout Brittany.

8. Fifteen commitments

1. Adopting an open Breton identity charter.
2. Creating an Observatory Brittany-5² of transmission and cohesion.
3. Teach the history and geography of Brittany with rigor.
4. Guarantee the development of Breton and Gallo without mandatory identity criteria.
5. Create a civic welcoming program that is voluntary.
6. Supporting the Breton media and cultural creation.
7. Inventorying and making accessible the heritage of Brittany-5.
8. Opening high schools and public facilities to cultural and collective uses.
9. Preserving the educational and cultural fabric across Brittany.
10. Develop inter-Celtic and European cooperation.
11. Mobilizing the diasporas around concrete projects.
12. Fighting against discrimination and hate speech.
13. Create an annual ceremony of welcome and local engagement.
14. Evaluate the social and territorial impact of cultural policies.
15. Making identity a common good, never a privilege.

Conditions of implementation

No transformation is generalized without a budget, a market opportunity, revenue and evaluation. No objective is imposed without a budget, a timeline, support, and accessible technical solution. No transfer takes place without resources. In the event of failure, the system is corrected rather than maintained for appearances’ sake. A code green, orange, red It will indicate the trajectory, but will never replace the figures and their explanation. A temporary increase in an indicator may correspond to a transition or to a better census: each evolution will be interpreted before a decision is made.

9. Calendar 2027-2032

Year	Decisions and deliverables	Public platform
2027 — Define	Charter; Brittany-5 report; inventories of languages, places, practices and demographic data	Public debate and adoption of the inclusive doctrine
2028 — Transmit	Historical resources; welcoming paths; first high schools opened; media plan and creation	Cover of each Department and first indicators
2029 — Deploy	Language and territorial cultural contracts; diaspora platforms; Celtic collaborations	100 % of the life basins engaged in or endowed with a plan
2030 — Correct	Mid-term evaluation; access, public, departmental (and national) level, and distributional effects	Corrective measures voted publicly
2031 — Consolidation	Generalization of proven mechanisms; multi-year funding; transfers if devolution	Continuity of resources and governance Brittany-5
2032 — Evaluate	Report on the mandate; Breton democratic convention; roadmap 2033-2038	Independent evaluation and democratic debate

The cultural, associative and educational measures falling within the current competences must begin in 2027. New pedagogical, audiovisual or linguistic obligations will depend on the devolution agreements with the central state and, consequently, on our future status.

10. Monitoring dashboard

Indicator	Reference/target	Frequency	Pilot
Sense of belonging	Survey 2027 and future developments, new and old residents	Every two years	Observatory
Knowledge of history	Non-certification evaluation by age and relevant local mesh size	Every two years	Education / researchers
Breton and Gallo	Learners, speakers, teachers, continuity and usage	Annually	Office / Brittany
Territorial access	Time for language teaching, culture and media library	Annually	Brittany
New residents	Participation in the welcome process and satisfaction	Annually	EPCI
Civic participation	Volunteering, consultations, participatory budgets	Annually	Observatory
Open high schools	Number, hours, users and diversity of activities	Semiannual	Brittany
Educational networking	Access time, boarding schools, transport and closures avoided	Annually	Brittany
Cultural creation	Works, audiences, dissemination, jobs and revenues	Annually	Brittany
Breton media	Audience, pluralism, languages and original production	Annually	Independent authority
Heritage	Listed sites, restored, reused and accessible	Annually	Inventory
Intercelticism	Co-productions, mobility and active partnerships	Annually	International network
Diaspora	Active members, supported projects and investments	Annually	Diaspora Agency
Discrimination	Reports, follow-up and security perception	Annually	Defender / observatory
Cohesion	Trust, relationships between groups and isolation	Every two years	Observatory
Data Brittany-5	Indicators including the 44	100 % in 2028	Observatory

11. Risks and precautions

Risk	Safeguard
Ethnicization	Civic belonging, equal rights and data not based on origins
Popularization of Folklore	Support for contemporary creation, businesses and everyday uses
Official history	Pluralistic scientific council, open sources and freedom of research
Instrumentalization of partisan interests	Independent governance and equitable access to financing
Breton/Gallo opposition	Equal dignity, territorialization and common projects
Identity withdrawal	Cooperation, multilingualism, hospitality and human rights
Centralization in Rennes and Nantes	Departmental budgets (and countries), accessibility criteria and life-basin decisions
Intrusive measure	Voluntary, anonymous surveys without an ethnic file

Conclusion

For Yes Breizh, Breton identity is only strong if it can be shared. It is not the right of a few to exclude, but the opportunity offered to everyone to receive, understand, enrich and transmit Brittany. Defined in this way, it becomes the human foundation of devolution: a community conscious of itself, open to the world and responsible for its choices.

Mobilized resources and precautions

• Yes Breizh, Breton Identity, work note submitted.
• CESER Bretagne, contribution on the school pupil population, January 2026.
• Interview with Glenmor, document transmitted.
• Interview with Patrick Le Lay, document transmitted.
• Article submitted to the FLNC, autonomy and Corsican identity: used as a counterexample.
• SNP, Government Programme 2026: community, rurality, hospitality, creation and local responsibilities.

The figures for the four départements are not extrapolated to the Loire-Atlantique, which will have to be done when the next Levrig is published.

Notes and clarifications

1. Unfortunately, many Bretons of origin can claim to be Bretons while denying Brittany through their actions or words. Sociologists often recognize this characteristic in colonized peoples. ↩

2. Any creation of an observatory or agency etc. will have to be linked to the disappearance of at least one other equivalent public entity with the full reinstatement of the staff. Adjustments may be made subsequently.
↩

The thematic dossiers of Levrig 2027 by Yes Breizh

• 1. Statute, institutions, devolution and Constitution
• 2. Public finances, budget and fiscal autonomy
• 2 bis. Budgetary analysis France – Brittany 5
• 3. The public service in Brittany
• 4. Health in Brittany
• 5. Disability in Brittany
• 6. Education, training and higher education
• 7. Culture, languages and media
• 8. Breton identity, transmission and cohesion
• 9. Housing in Brittany
• 10. Employment, businesses and economic development
• 11. Economy, trade and mobility
• 12. Agriculture and food
• 13. Sea, coast and fishing
• 14. Energy, climate and the ecological transition
• 15. Digitalization and sovereignty
• 16. Security, justice and defense
• 17. Europe and internationally
• 18. Breton Diaspora and international outreach