No C 168/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 7. 90 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision adopting a specific programme concerning the 
preparation of the development of an operational Eurotrasystem 
(90/C 168/10) 
On 5 January 1990 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article 130q (2) of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Energy, Nuclear Questions and Research, which was responsible for preparing the 
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 10 April 1990. The rapporteur was 
Mr Proumens. 
At its 276th plenary session (meeting of 25 April 1990) the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following opinion by a large majority (one abstention): 
1. Preliminary comments 
1.1. The Committee notes that the present proposal is a 
logical follow-up to earlier Council Decisions aimed at 
eventually creating a machine-translation system of 
advanced design capable of dealing with all official 
Community languages. The proposal also dovetails with 
the initial objectives of the Eurotra programme launched in 
1982 (!). 
1.2. Although in earlier opinions the Committee has 
consistently shown an interest in the Eurotra programme 
and supported proposals on the implementation thereof, it 
has always been somewhat sceptical about the likelihood of 
achieving the programme's objectives, particularly within 
the deadlines set. The Committee nevertheless approves the 
present proposal both for reasons of consistency and 
because of the intrinsic value of the document. 
1.3. However, the Committee would wish to make clear 
that the Eurotra programme's assessment report, which 
confirms that the execution of the programme is posing real 
problems, has done nothing to alter its own scepticism. 
2. General comments 
2.1. Information reaching the Committee suggests that 
work is likely to be carried out on the following pattern: 
(a) maintenance of a vocabulary of 20 000 words (as 
initially envisaged); 
(b) limitation of vocabulary to scientific and technical 
terms; 
(c) inclusion of these terms in a 'dictionary'; 
(d) language pairing, i.e. the simultaneous translation of 
nine languages into the eight other languages (72 pairs), 
to be abandoned; 
(e) the system to be based on individual language pairs; 
(!) OJ No L 317, 13. 11. 1982, p. 19. (f) the plan would be to work on individual language pairs 
first and only then move on to a third language. 
2.2. It is obvious from the above that the initial 
objectives of the programme have been whittled down 
substantially. This is partly because of technological 
difficulties and partly no doubt because of the lack of 
qualified engineers in computational linguistics. 
2.3. The Committee is concerned lest the system will 
eventually lead to the disappearance of linguistic features 
particular to each language (especially vocabulary), 
thereby impoverishing Europe's languages. 
2.4. Whilst linguistic pluralism is and will continue to 
remain an integral part of the social and cultural fabric of 
the Member States, there are fears that the proposed 
automatization will mean the eventual destruction of the 
rich store of culture embodied in each national language. 
2.4.1. Here the Committee would reiterate its pre­
viously expressed conviction that translators will continue 
to play a key role in preserving the semantic and 
grammatical nuances and particularities which constitute 
the richness of any language. By performing this function 
the role of translators will be enhanced. 
2.5. The Committee would also draw attention to the 
fact that linguistic diversity and richness in the Community 
is not confined to the nine official Community languages 
covered by the Eurotra programme but extends also to 
regional languages and dialects (Gaelic, Basque, Frisian, 
etc.). The Committee attaches great importance to the 
preservation of such languages and dialects. 
2.6. The Committee considers that the switch of 
emphasis towards developing tools for monolingual 
applications should make it easier to accommodate the 
interest of EFTA countries in the Eurotra programme; it 
should now be easier to integrate new languages such as 
Swedish and Finnish. This would not have been the case 
with a system of multilingual applications which would 
10 B 90 Official]ournal of the European Communities ^oCl^l^ 
have led toabigmmpm the number of language pairs 
(more than 100 combinations with two e^tralanguagesP 
^. Specific comments 
^Bl. The Committee notes the difficulties in recruiting 
qualified specialists and supports the Commission's 
proposalto devote 10^o of theprogramme'sbudgetto 
training. 
^.2. The Committee also invites the Commission to 
look into the possibility of using the ComettH(^, 
Eurotechnet (^ andtoalessere^tentErasmus(^ program 
mes, etc., for the purpose of training and recruiting topD 
level engineers and technicians. 
^Beu The Committee notes that specialist firms will and 
arealreadybeingmvited to tendersince the participation of 
industry intheprogrammeisvitalmorder to solve the 
many difficulties whichwill arise. 
1. Ceneral comments 
1.1. The full exploitation of human capital is an 
effective way of promoting economic development in 
Central and Eastern European countries (mitially^oland 
and Hungary), and bringing them up to western European 
standards. Helping the development of initial and adD 
vanced vocational training in these countries is thereforea 
sound and useful investment which benefits the European 
(^OleMem^,^^0,D ^ ^m. Some European firms have already developed 
monolingual translation programmes, and the CommisD 
sionmightperhapsbeabletodrawveryuseful lessons from 
them when implementing its own programme. 
^. Last but not least, the Committee has been 
informedof a proposal tocreateaEuropean Linguistic 
Technologies Agency. Its aim would be to rationalise and 
exercise closer control over developments and problems in 
the field of machine translation. 
^. As things are at present, the Committee is unable to 
assess the pros and cons of such an agency.Atall events,the 
Committee should be consulted on any such proposal, 
which should be accompanied by a detailed financial 
statement so that the costs involved can be compared with 
the budget for the ne^t phases of the Eurotra programme. 
UoneatBrussels,^Apnll990. 
o^r^E^o^o^^^^o^^Co^^rr^ 
economy asawhole and furthers economic cooperation in 
themterestsof allciti^ens. The creation of aEuropean 
Training Foundation, which is designed to serve this 
objective, is therefore emphatically endorsed by the 
Economic and Social Committee. Since assistance and 
support needstobegivenrapidly,everythmgshouldbe 
donetoensurethattheEoundationisbroughttolifeinmid 
1990, as planned, and that funds are also available to the 
Foundation in the medium and long term. In this 
connection the Committee assumes that the necessary 
preparatory work such as the ^definition of plans for 
assistance' and the ^creation of networks and fora for 
consultation'hasalready begun and will becarnedforward 
rapidly. Opinionon theproposalfor a CouncilRegulation (EEC) estahlishingaEnropeanTraining 
Foundations) 
(90^C 1^511) 
On 12 Februaryl990 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article 19^ oftheTreatyestabhshingtheEuropeanEconomicCommunity,on the abovementioned 
proposal. 
TheSection for Social,Family,Educational and Cultural Affairs, which was responsiblefor 
preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 9 April 1990. The 
rapporteur was ^Bir^ierhaus. 
Atits2^thplenary session (meetingof 2^Apnl 1990) theEconomicandSocialCommittee 
adopted the following opinion byama^onty with two abstentions