WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2655/98 by Antoinette SPAAK to the Commission. Use of languages in the Institutions of the European Union
Date: 1998-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, SPAAK
Subjects: Central and Eastern European countries, EU institution, World Trade Organisation, official language, translation, vocational training













EUR-Lex - 91998E2655 - EN






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91998E2655

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2655/98 by Antoinette SPAAK to the Commission. Use of languages in the Institutions of the European Union  


Official Journal C 118 , 29/04/1999 P. 0114 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-2655/98by Antoinette Spaak (ELDR) to the Commission(1 September 1998)Subject: Use of languages in the Institutions of the European Union1. What was in the past, and what is at present, the number of pages produced in the original in a language of the European Union, and in which languages were/are they sent for translation?2. What is the position of the European institutions, in the light of enlargement, as far as languages are concerned?3. What are the languages of negotiation used by the WTO, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Cyprus, the Baltic States, and the States of the former Soviet Union?Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission(26 October 1998)1. In 1997, the Commission Translation Service received some 250 000 pages to translate into one or more official languages or all of them. English and French were the main source languages. A little over 1 100 000 pages were translated over the same period, 700 000 of them into all the official languages. For some language combinations the volume of pages translated was negligible.2. At present the use of languages remains subject to Regulation No l of 1958, as amended following successive accessions. The rules can be amended in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 217 of the EC Treaty.In the preparation of its Agenda 2000 proposals the Commission implicitly assumed that the languages of the applicant countries would be included in the language rules. A training plan was established to meet new translation requirements.In the case of interpretation, the Commission is convinced of the feasibility of an enlarged interpretation service, in particular by using modular booths combined with asymmetric interpreting, by providing adequate and intensive training and by targeted recruitment. In this context, the reorganisation of the Joint Interpreting and Conference Service that began in the second half of 1996 has enabled interpreting to be provided from an additional 500 passive languages for the same cost; interpretation of the future new Community languages will be provided at minimum cost within five years. The Commission is accordingly making a special effort to train interpreters in the languages of Central and Eastern Europe.3. The negotiating languages used by the WTO are English, French and Spanish.The position with regard to the languages used in accession negotiations with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia is as follows. Negotiations started with an analysis of the Community acquis. It involved negotiations chapter by chapter. At meetings, the applicant countries could use their own language. In this case, interpretation was provided into English, French and German. When a negotiated chapter was reviewed, the applicant countries presented their formal negotiating positions. So far these documents have always been drafted in English.