Translation for EU treaty languages only?

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From http://www.eurolang.net

IGC: No Treaty status for non-state languages, Treaty translation only
Brussel / Bruxelles 6/17/2004 , by Davyth Hicks

The Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) will decide during today and
tomorrow whether non-state languages may be used for translations of the
Draft Constitutional Treaty once it is signed. The request by the Spanish
government that Catalan, Galician and Basque have Treaty status, giving
the right to send and receive correspondence in ones own language, has
been left out from the Irish Presidency's revision.

Instead a revised Article IV-10 says: This Treaty may also be translated
into any other languages as determined by Member States among those which,
in accordance with their constitutional order, enjoy official status in
all or part of their territory.

Catalan President Maragall told the press that he welcomed the initiative
describing the revision as a first step. Speaking to Eurolang, a
spokesperson from the Catalan Government representation in Brussels added
that it would be a first step of many and that if we had had more time we
could have gone further.

However, the revised Article implies that only official languages can be
used to translate the Treaty so excluding languages such as Breton and
Occitan, which have no status at all in the French state.

It further stipulates that Member States have only six months to specify
into which languages translations of the Treaty will be made.

While the new clause states that the Conference "confirms the attachment
of the Union to the cultural diversity of Europe and the special attention
it will continue to pay to linguistic diversity", it is not the step
forward that many language groups and the Spanish Government had wanted.

Eurolang will report further once the decision has been finalised.
(Eurolang)

http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4625

Irish election results look good for the language. Nine of the Republics
thirteen new MEPs support full official status for Irish
Brussel / Bruxelles 6/16/2004 , by Davyth Hicks

The result of the European elections in the Irish Republic suggest that
the controversy over Irish not being an official EU working language may
have played a part in the outcome of the election.

In both European and district elections the government suffered badly with
Sinn Fein, which strongly supports the language, gaining MEPs for the
first time. Importantly, nine of the Republics thirteen new MEPs support
full working status as well as the newly elected Irish speaker Bairbre de
Bruin (Sinn Fin)from Belfast, it could make the STADAS campaign
unstoppable.

The support for Irish status may bring the new MEPs into direct conflict
with the Government in Dublin. The Government has already ignored, and
seemingly paid the price for, both public opinion and a vote in the Dail
which called for full official status. Furthermore, as reported on
Eurolang, it has raised further controversy in the Catalan and Basque
press over its failure to support the Spanish Governments call for
Catalan, Basque and Galician to be Treaty languages.

The following newly elected MEPs have all signed up to support the STADAS
campaign: Simon Coveney (Fine Gael), Gay Mitchell (Fine Gael), Avril Doyle
(Fine Gael), Mairad McGuinness (Fine Gael), Jim Higgins (Fine Gael,
fluent) , Brian Crowley (Fianna Fil), Sen  Neachtain, (Fianna Fil, native
speaker), Marian Harkin (Independent), Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Fin).

Therefore, nine of the thirteen MEPs from the Republic are supporters of
STDAS, and two are fluent speakers of Irish. Add in Bairbre de Bruin and
it means that three Irish MEPs are Irish speakers, close to the number of
MEPs that speak Maltese (5).

Speaking to Eurolang today Sen  Neachtain MEP said: As a member of the
European Parliament for the North West Constituency I have been working to
increase the rights of Irish speakers since I entered the Parliament. My
maiden speech in the parliament was through Irish.

The conservation of our language and culture is of such importance. In
todays Europe cultural diversity is so highly regarded. Indeed, the
respect for diversity is recognised in the introduction to the Draft
Treaty where it states that Europe shall be united in its diversity'.

Indeed, if Irish is made an official language of the EU it would create
many employment opportunities for Irish translators and interpreters and
in turn increase the educational value of the Irish language. I am in
regular contact with the Minister for Gaeltacht Eamon  Civ along with An
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD in relation to this important issue. In the new
term of the European Parliament, I will continue to put pressure on the
government to make a formal application as soon as possible.

Eurolang also spoke to newly elected Sinn Fin MEP Bairbre de Bruin,
herself a teacher in an Irish-medium school before taking up politics. She
said that language had played a large part in our campaign and now that we
have received a mandate we will be carrying the status issue forward.
(Eurolang)

EU elections : Polish MEP list will be short on language supporters
Brussel/Bruxelles 6/16/2004 , by James Fife

Surveying the provisional results of the European Parliament elections in
Poland provides only slight cheer for supporters of minority languages and
regionalism. This is the opinion of Tomasz Wicherkiewicz, president of the
Poland Member State Committee for the European Bureau for Lesser Used
Languages (Pol-EBLUL), who spoke with Eurolang today about the new slate
of MEPs. Wicherkiewicz, who is with the Department of Language Policy and
Minority Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, stated that
Unfortunately two of the most language-supportive candidates were not on
the list of the elected, although there was some certainty they would get
through.

The two candidates referred to by Wicherkiewicz were both on the Unia
Wolnosci (associated with the ELDR party group in the EP) party line in
different constituencies. One was Brunon Synak, who is with the
Kashubian-Pomeranian Association, and ran for a seat from the
Kashubian-speaking heartland in the Pomorskie province. He would have been
a strong supporter of minority languages. Its unfortunate he lost; I was
almost sure he would win, Wicherkiewicz said.

The other pro-language candidate who lost was Michal Klinger, who
represented the Belorussian community in the Podlaskie and Mazury region
of the country. There are approximately 300,000 Kashubians in Poland, with
Belorussians numbering about 200,000.

With the failure of these two candidates, Wicherkiewicz said, The only
persons we could count on are the other successful candidates from UW, who
are traditionally more open-minded about minority issues. Of the 54 seats
open in Poland, four went to UW: Bronislaw Geremek (a former foreign
minister), representing Warsaw; Jan Kulakowski, an ambassador who
negotiated Polands accession to the EU, for the Wielkopolskie province;
Janusz Onyszkiewicz in the Malopolskie region; and Grazyna Staniszewska in
Silesia, which is the primary area inhabited by the German minority in
Poland. Germans are the largest ethnic minority in Poland, comprising
about 400,000, or about 1.1%.

Besides these UW MEPs, Wicherkiewicz suggested that perhaps other
individual MEPs from other parties might take a positive view toward
language rights issues. He mentioned European Convention member Genowefa
Grabowska as such a possibility. Grabowska is from the Socjaldemokrcja
Polski (associated with the PSE in the EP) and also represents the Silesia
constituency. Eurolang has not yet been able to confirm her position on
language issues.

Wicherkiewicz also had an opinion as to which successful parties would not
have sympathy for language issues, parties he characterised as absolutely
language-unfriendly in their likely political positions. He identified
these as including the peasant party Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe
(associated with the PPE-DE group), which has four seats in the EP; the
Catholic nationalist party Liga Polskich Rodzin (unaffiliated), with 10
seats; the conservative-rightist Prawo i Spawiedliwosc (affiliated with
the UEN group), with six MEPs; and the unaffiliated populist Samoobrona
party, which has six seats in the EP. Thus the parties with hostile
attitudes towards minorities and minoritised languages greatly outnumber
those with potentially positive views in the Polish EP contingent.
(Eurolang)