WRITTEN QUESTION E-2576/03 by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission. Enlargement Weekly only in English.
Date: 2003-08-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Internet site, dissemination of EU information, enlargement of the Union, official language

8.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 88 E/419

In view of the excellent relations of cooperation existing between the EU and Azerbaijan, can the
Commission state whether it is aware of the above facts and indicate what initiatives, in the context of the
cooperation relationship, could constitute an effective and workable means of inducing Azerbaijan to
ensure respect for freedom of religion?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(18 September 2003)

The Commission is aware of the arrest of Mr Ismailov and Mr Musayev.

The Commission is of the opinion that dialogue with Azerbaijan within the Partnership and Cooperation
framework will provide the best mechanism for addressing the issues to which the Honourable Member
refers. Therefore,
issue of freedom of belief with the Azerbaijani
authorities at the earliest opportunity.

it is proposed to raise the general

The Commission is working actively with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
Office for Democratic Institutions on promoting human rights in Azerbaijan.

(2004/C 88 E/0426)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2576/03

by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission

(6 August 2003)

Subject:

‘Enlargement Weekly’ only in English

The Commission web site quite correctly pays attention to the enlargement process that the European
Union is currently undergoing. A separate home page is even devoted to enlargement, which includes a
feature entitled ‘Enlargement Weekly’. In its own words, the newsletter provides ‘an overview of where
European enlargement has got to, who’s doing what in the EU,
in the institutions and the candidate
countries, and how the main challenges are being met’.

Unlike the remainder of the web site which, quite correctly, appears in all the official languages of the
European Union, ‘Enlargement Weekly’ is, however, available only in English.

What are the grounds for this linguistic restriction?

Is the Commission planning to have the newsletter translated into all the official languages? If so, when
will the relevant texts be available in the other official languages of the EU?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(15 September 2003)

Increasing the multi-lingual nature of the Enlargement website has been a priority since its relaunch in
2002. The first priority was to provide in all Community languages the main pages, main texts, and those
parts of the website, which are not subject to continuous revision, as is the case in much of the
enlargement process. This is an ongoing process. The Enlargement Weekly Newsletter
to which
the Honourable Member refers is not an official document of the Commission, but an element of the
Communication Strategy on enlargement that the Commission makes publicly available as it is specified in
the text at the bottom of the web page. It is produced every week on Monday in order to give a
continuous and rapidly available account of
the main developments in the enlargement process.
A summary of the main items is e-mailed the following day to approximately 20 000 persons around
the world who are subscribed to it. Therefore, it requires a rapid production, which would inevitably be
delayed and more expensive if more than one language version were required. It is only because of these
reasons that the production in only one language is used in this specific case.

There are no plans to produce any other linguistic versions of the newsletter.