WRITTEN QUESTION E-0308/04 by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. The French language at the Commission.
Date: 2004-02-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European official, administrative expenditure (EU), in-service training, language teaching, use of languages

C 84 E/358

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

this information was seen as relevant and not included in the initial appraisal. The European Food Safety
Authority would also be consulted for opinion where objections remained, including in the context of new
information.

In addition: ‘there is no evidence that adverse effects on biodiversity have arisen from the cultivation of a
crop which has been modified through modern biotechnology’, as stated in the Form Scale Evaluation
(FSE) report.

(1) Directive 2001/18/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 2001 on the deliberate release into the
environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC, OJ L 106, 17.4.2001.

(2004/C 84 E/0416)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0308/04

by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(6 February 2004)

Subject: The French language at the Commission

If my information is correct, the Commission intends to spend more than EUR 20 million on French
courses for its employees. On what basis does the Commission train its staff specifically to improve their
command of French, and does it intend to promote the position of French at the expense of other
languages within the Commission?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(24 March 2004)

The Honourable Member’s information is not correct, and neither are the similar figures that have recently
appeared in some newspapers, together with misleading reports about French as a working language of the
Commission.

The Commission has not taken any decision which gives or will give the teaching of French a privileged
place by comparison with that of the other official languages.

Courses for each language for each year are planned on the basis of the previous year’s take up. Apart
from demand from staff seeking to improve language skills the only other factor taken into account is the
budget limit set for language training. For 2003 this was EUR 5 000 000. French courses accounted for
23 % of the total in 2003, English for 20 %, Spanish for 10 %, German for 10 % and the remaining 37 %
was used for courses in 28 other languages.

For some languages demand does not noticeably vary. For others, principally English, French and the
languages of the acceding countries, there has been an average increase in demand of about 10 % a year
since 2001. This trend will probably strengthen from 2004 following enlargement and entry into force of
the new Staff Regulations which give increased importance to multilingualism, particularly by requiring
officials to attain the ability to work in a third Community language before a first promotion can be
secured.

It should be noted that the priority given to a staff member’s language training provided or financed by the
Commission depends, and will continue to depend, on the requirements of the job that he or she does (1).

Clearly, it is not possible to estimate precisely which languages will be most in demand in the immediate
future. The Commission assures the Honourable Member that it will continue to be committed to
providing its staff with accessible opportunities for learning or developing their capabilities in all the
official languages.

(1) Commission Decision on staff training C(2002) 1577 of 7 May 2002.