Scheme to preserve culture on Internet

Date: 06/06/1996

By Rory Watson

THE European Union is in the process of finalising work on a multi-million-ecu strategy to ensure that the spread of modern technology will strengthen rather than weaken the continent's rich multilingual diversity.

The scheme is a direct result of the call by EU leaders at the summits in Corfu and Cannes for Union action to ensure that the growing emphasis on an English-dominated global networked information and communication service does not undermine the range of European cultures and languages.

The programme aims to encourage producers to supply support material and manuals in various languages, devise ways of making online dictionaries and terminology banks multilingual and encourage the expansion of software products.

Acknowledging that technological advances provide exciting challenges, the Commission nevertheless warns: “At worst, citizens unable to communicate comfortably in the widely-spoken languages could be denied full participation in our increasingly information-based society.”

With English firmly established as the major international high-technology language, there are fears that non-English speakers may not be able to benefit from the various services available, reducing the information society's impact in schools, factories, businesses and homes.

At the same time, there is concern that the linguistic diversity resulting from the 45 national and regional languages spoken by the EU's 370 million inhabitants could be suffocated by the predominance of one or two major languages.

The proposed three-year programme, due to be examined by telecoms ministers at a meeting on 27 June, is winning widespread support but faces two major hurdles.

As with many other schemes, the central battle is over finance. Germany is questioning whether the Union's hard-pressed budget can afford the 15 million ecu which the Commission is suggesting should be spent between now and 1998. As a result, Bonn is threatening to block the programme. While not going to such lengths, the UK also argues that the proposed expenditure should be trimmed.

At the other end of the spectrum stand the Union's elected representatives. New Democracy Euro MP Nana Mouskouri, in her parliamentary report on linguistic diversity, argues that the figure should be increased to 20 million ecu and her Greek colleague Kostantinos Kosmopoulos, the mayor of Thessalonika, will next week urge the Committee of the Regions to support his call for the planned expenditure to be doubled.

The second hurdle comes in the form of an inter-institutional battle between MEPs and the Council of Ministers. Under the current plan, Euro MPs are only being consulted on the legislation. They argue they should share legislative powers with ministers in drawing up the parameters for the schemes which would receive EU support.

When MEPs give their verdict on the multilingual information society programme - either later this month or in July - they are also expected to make a plea for the Union's lesser-used languages to be as eligible for EU funding as its 11 official languages.