Bulgarian, Romanian and Irish join the EU family

'United in diversity' is the motto of the European Union and this is never more evident in the languages it embraces. This year sees the number of official languages in the European Union rise to 23 with the arrival of Bulgaria and Romania as well as the adoption of Irish. This reflects the cultural heritage of Europe and the principle that all EU citizens have access to documents and information in their own languages. It also means that debates in the Parliament will be heard in these languages.