The Observatoire adopted these words as its guiding philosophy on the occasion of the first series of debates organised by the Observatoire linguistique in 1990–1991, at Fleury-sur-Andelle in Haute-Normandie, at Maillane in Provence and at Huy in Wallonie, sponsored by each of the relevant regions, on the subject of Nos langues et l'unité de l'Europe ("Our languages and the unity of Europe"). The guest of honour at the first of these debates was André Martinet (1908–1999), doyen of trans-Atlantic linguistics.
