European Union

The European Fiscal Board has recommended major reform of the Stability and Growth Pact in order to simplify the EU’s spending rules and favour productive investment in the era of low-interest rates.

Large areas of forest are being cleared worldwide for the agricultural industry. Although the EU requires its contracting partners to protect the environment,  it lacks the means for enforcement. Environmentalists and the European Parliament see an urgent need for action. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. /// PARIS    The Commission’s new name for the migration portfolio “Protecting our European Way of Life”, which...

Arab and Muslim countries Wednesday (11 September) led a wave of outcry after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to annex a key part of the occupied West Bank if re-elected. The EU also reacted.

UK opposition parties have hit out at the government for an alleged harvesting of user data, surreptitiously obtained from individuals accessing the official Gov.uk website, ahead of the UK's scheduled withdrawal from the EU at the end of October.

Tens of thousands of Catalans waving pro-independence flags and chanting "Independence now!" gathered in Barcelona on Wednesday (11 September) to call for a break from Spain, but turnout was far less than at past such rallies amid divisions among separatist parties.

The "Operation Yellowhammer" worst-case assumptions published on Wednesday (11 September) look like a heavy blow for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has been pushing for a hard Brexit.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a fresh blow Wednesday (11 September) when a Scottish court ruled that his controversial decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to Brexit was unlawful.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged the Venezuelan government and opposition Wednesday (11 September) to return to the negotiating table to seek a way out of the South American country's protracted crisis.

Suntory Beverage and Food Europe is one of the Europe’s biggest soft drinks companies. Its goal to make its bottles from 100% sustainable plastic is hugely ambitious. Here, CEO Peter Harding explains why now is the time for action from everyone, and what business and policymakers need to do to help SBFE get there.

Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen wants to see "tighter enforcement" of EU rules, and wants the current Belgian foreign minister to take charge.

Hungary’s pick for the next European Commission was always going to cause controversy but the job offered by Ursula von der Leyen to László Trócsányi has only kicked the hornet’s nest. However, Jean-Claude Juncker’s successor could well be a few moves ahead of us.

Ambassadors representing member states will meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss extending the mandate of the defunct and boatless Naval Operation Sophia. Sophia is mandated to crackdown on migrant trafficking, but had all its boats pulled following an Italian backlash over where to disembark people rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. The current mandate expires 30 September.

Catalonia celebrated on Wednesday its national day - while awaiting the trial verdict on 12 Catalan separatists, former politicians of Carles Puigdemont's government. That decision is expected for early October.

The EU executive is unlikely to appeal a decision of the EU General Court in Luxembourg on Tuesday (10 September) to restrict the transit of Russian gas via the Opal pipeline, running on German territory.

"My successor will have a lot of work to do," the current EU trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström told Efe during her visit to Madrid on Tuesday (10 September). She pointed to relations with the US and China as being among the "very long list" of challenges facing her successor. EURACTIV's partner Euroefe reports.

This September, world leaders will gather at the UN in New York to reiterate the need to speed up action on the global promise to build a more equitable and sustainable world, which is the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), write Ulrika Modéer and Ahunna Eziakonwa.

Europe should consider establishing a 'digital border control,' as a means of obstructing internet access to hostile actors in the event of a serious cyberattack, the head of Deutsche Telekom's cybersecurity division has told EURACTIV.

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The European Parliament regularly receives enquiries from citizens on how translation and interpretation are organised in the European Parliament.

The European Union has 24 official languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.

Under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, citizens have the right to communicate with European Union institutions in any of these official languages. In addition, under the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, Members have the right to speak in Parliament in the official language of their choice, with these speeches simultaneously interpreted into the other official languages.

Using 24 languages creates 552 possible language combinations. To cope with these, the European Parliament uses a system of ‘relay’ languages: a speaker or a text is first interpreted or translated into one of the most widely used languages (English, French or German), and then into other languages. As a rule, each interpreter and translator works into his/her mother tongue.

Translating documents

The Directorate-General for Translation ensures that Parliament’s documents are available in all the official languages of the European Union, thus enabling Parliament to meet its commitment to its policy of multilingualism.

Under the European Parliament’s internal policies (known as the ‘Code of conduct on multilingualism’), priority for translation is given to documents to be voted on in plenary, documents for the President, documents for parliamentary committees, etc. As a result, it may be that some other types of documents are not translated in all official languages.

The European Parliament employs about 600 translators. To cope with the ever-increasing level of demand, the Directorate-General outsources the translation of some texts. The outsourcing of translation assignments is based on document type and workload. Documents of the highest priority, i.e. legislative documents and documents to be put to the vote in plenary are, as far as internal resources permit, translated in-house. Other types of documents, especially administrative texts, are frequently outsourced.

Interpreting debates

The Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences is responsible for the linguistic, technical and logistical support for the organisation of parliamentary meetings and conferences. Besides plenary sittings, interpretation is also provided in committee and delegation meetings from and into the official languages used and requested by the Members.

Sign language interpretation is also provided in Parliament’s plenary debates, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by the EU in December 2010.

The European Parliament employs approximately 270 interpreters and has a reserve of about 1500 external accredited interpreters at its disposal.

Ensuring the quality of legislative acts

The legislation adopted by the European Union affects over 500 million people in 28 countries and 24 official languages: so that everyone can understand, it must be identical and as clear as possible in all official languages. Verifying the linguistic and legislative quality of the texts is the job of Parliament’s team of 75 lawyer-linguists, working together with lawyer-linguists of the Council. They ensure, throughout the legislative procedure, the highest possible quality of legislative texts in all EU languages.

Continue to put your questions to the Citizens’ Enquiries Unit (Ask EP)! We reply in the EU language that you use to write to us.

Further information

• Multilingualism in the European Parliament, European Parliament website.
• Code of conduct on multilingualism, European Parliament website.
• European Strategy for multilingualism: benefits and costs, Policy Department, European Parliament.

Poland v Commission
Energy
The General Court annuls the Commission decision approving the modification of the exemption regime for the operation of the OPAL gas pipeline