Petition calls for German language boost

[Harold Schiffman]

Petition calls for German language boost
Published: Friday 11 April 2008

Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban was yesterday (10 April)
presented with a petition calling for German to remain on an "equal
footing" with English and French as an "EU procedural language". The
petition, signed by 50 MEPs and representatives of 18 European
regions, says "all documents, websites and publications [of the EU
institutions] should be in German". It calls for recruitment to the
institutions to better reflect linguistic diversity and requests that
more funding be made available to promote the use of German, which is
also spoken in countries like Belgium, Romania and Italy. The three
procedural languages of the EU are English, French and German. French
has historically enjoyed a privileged position in the EU institutions
which dates from the beginnings of EU integration. But its prevalence
has been steadily undermined by English.

The Commission welcomed the move as it would "any initiative to
promote languages," highlighting the "privileged nature" of German as
one of the EU executive's three procedural languages.  But
Commissioner Orban's spokesperson Pietro Petrucci stressed that the
petition was addressed to all the EU institutions and "not just the
Commission". As German is already "on an equal footing" with other
languages, the Commission does not see the need for "any extra
considerations" to be made as a result of the petition, Petrucci said.
Meanwhile, the Lisbon Treaty brings with it an increased role for
national parliaments in EU decision-making and discussions of EU
language policy are "ongoing," he stressed, adding: "Let's wait and
see what's implemented [by the Treaty] to see what we need to do."
Expressing his support for the initiative, German Permanent
Representation to the EU spokesman Martin Kotthaus told EurActiv that
the range of countries and regions in which German is spoken make it
"the EU's most widely-spoken mother tongue." It is thus it is
imperative that it is used adequately in the EU institutions, he said,
adding: "The EU can only prosper if the citizens are able to
participate."

Likewise, German Foreign Ministry officials strongly welcomed the
initiative, stating: "The Federal Government often and actively
campaigns for the position and the use of German within the EU
institutions to be strengthened and generally supports the concept of
multilingualism in the EU." The Commission is set to present a new
strategy for multilingualism in September this year (EurActiv
19/02/08).  But MEP Michael Gahler (CDU, DE), a member of the
delegation which presented the petition to the commissioner, told
EurActiv that the implementation of an EU-wide multilingualism policy
would be "no easy task" as its success would depend on how the member
states react. Likewise "established interests" within the Commission
itself must be overco me, he added. Commissioner Orban will meet with
representatives of the German Permanent Representation to the EU later
today to further discuss the position of German in the EU
institutions, Petrucci said.

Meanwhile, the Commission is speaking to the German and other EU
governments about "how to improve translation results" and guarantee
the sustainability of its language regime "within budgetary limits,"
it said in a press release.

http://www.euractiv.com/en/culture/petition-calls-german-language-boost/article-171571

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