Parliament fails EU new boys’ language test

By Martin Banks

Date: 19/05/05

MEPS from new member states have lodged an official complaint about the "unequal" language conditions during European Parliament meetings.

In a letter to the Parliament's administration, the Czech Republic delegation of the centre-right EPP-ED group complained that, a year after EU enlargement, translation and interpretation facilities for deputies from the ten new member states still lagged behind those for MEPs from the EU15.

Jan Zahradil, head of the delegation, said: "We consider the right to use one's own language as an essential right but, 12 months after enlargement, this right is still not guaranteed.

"The lack of capacity and staff cannot be put forward as an argument as members themselves have been contacted many times by people who succeeded in the concours [recruitment competitions]. Many of them are still waiting for their chance to be employed."

A report by Valdis Dombrovskis, an EPP MEP from Latvia, also calls for improvements to the translation service and more interpreters to be made available, not just for plenary sessions, but for political group and working group meetings.

A spokesperson for the Parliament admitted that at present, the assembly was below its target figure for both translators and interpreters from new member states.

She said: "We currently have just over 20 translators from new member states compared with the 35 needed and about 70 interpreters compared with the target figure of 160.

"It has proved particularly difficult to recruit translators and interpreters from Slovenia, Latvia, Slovakia and Estonia.

"Another problem is the shortage of available space...We are trying our best to resolve these issues by continuing to recruit staff and building new and bigger meeting rooms."

Article reports that MEPs from new Member States lodged an official complaint about the 'unequal' language conditions during European Parliament meetings. In a letter to the Parliament's administration, the Czech Republic delegation of the centre-right EPP-ED group complained that, a year after EU enlargement, translation and interpretation facilities for deputies from the ten new member states still lagged behind those for MEPs from the EU15.