IALS, 2014 ©William Robinson 1

CAN THE EU WRITE CLEARLY?

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Introduction

Legislation applying to 28 Member States

24 authentic languages

Obstacles to clarity

Some responses

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“Europe” 2013

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EU language regimeThe official languages and the working languages

of the institutions of the Union shall be Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. ...

Regulations and other documents of general application shall be drafted in the official languages.(Regulation No 1/1958, Art 1 and Art 4)

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Standard English

Standard English of Ireland and the United Kingdom

Multiculturalism: avoid terms specific to one culture

Spelling

£ 1,999.50 = GBP 1 999,50

€ 50.50 = Fifty euro and fifty cent (NOT Fifty euros and fifty cents)

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Eurospeak?

Competence (Art. 5 TEU)

Subsidiarity and proportionality (Art. 5 TEU)

Principle of conferral (Art. 5 TEU)

Configuration of the Council (Art. 16 TEU)

Acquis (Art. 20 TEU)

Enhanced cooperation (Art. 20 TEU)

Complementarity (Art. 210 TFEU)

Troika (of the three successive Council Presidencies)

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Eurojargon?

Communitarisation, Deconstitutionalisation, Lisbonisation

Regionalisation

Comitology

Agenda, Mainstreaming, Facility

Concrete action, concrete steps

“an upstream actor in the supply chain” (Regulation No 98/2013)

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Envelopes and facilities?

Decision No 1/2004 ... on the use of the reserve of the long-term development envelope as well as resources from the Investment Facility of the ninth European Development Fund for the establishment of an ACP-EU Water Facility

(Official Journal L 289 of 10.9.2004, p. 68)

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Obstcles to clarity

Summitspeak

Deliberate vagueness

Use of a still evolving lingua franca

We need plain language, not Eurobabble, which is understood only by an elite, and virtually unintelligible to a Europe Minister, let alone an average voter. At European Union Summits, politicians and journalists are trapped in a security cordoned bubble talking to each other. Then they talk the same summitspeak to a perplexed and alienated outside world.

We need a new popular language if we are to reconnect the European Union to its citizens

(Peter Hain, Minister for Europe, Port Talbot, Wales, 22.2.2002)

Summitspeak

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The European Council endorses the guidelines evolved at the ministerial meeting in Marseilles on 3 and 4 November 2008, which made it possible to define the working methods of the Union for the Mediterranean. Within the framework of the structures put in place, it calls for the further ambitious implementation of this initiative in all its dimensions.

Likewise, the Eastern Partnership will bring about a significant strengthening of EU policy with regard to the Eastern partners of the European Neighbourhood Policy in a bilateral and multilateral framework, to complement the other forms of cooperation already existing in the Union's neighbourhood, such as the Black Sea Synergy, which will have to be taken into account.

European Council 2008

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Taking into account the elections to the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for President of the Commission.

(Treaty on European Union, Article 17(7))

Vagueness

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Lingua franca

English is particularly suitable as Europe's lingua franca because of its functional flexibility and spread across the world, and because English is already "de-nativised" to a large extent: the global number of non-native speakers is now substantially larger than its native speakers (about 4:1). English is no longer "owned" by its native speakers because acculturation and nativisation processes have produced a remarkable diversification of the English language into many non-native varieties.(Professor Juliane House, 2001)

The seasonal nature of the production of certain long-keeping cheeses and Pecorino Romano, Kefalotyri and Kasseri cheese is aggravated by the fact that the seasonality of consumption is the inverse of the seasonality of production. The fragmented production of such cheeses further aggravates the consequences of that seasonality. Therefore, provision should be made for recourse to seasonal storage in respect of a quantity corresponding to the difference between summer and winter production. (Regulations Nos 1244/2004, 827/2005, 734/2006)

Hard cheese

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1. Certain long-keeping cheeses and Pecorino Romano, Kefalotyri and Kasseri cheeses are produced at certain seasons and by large numbers of small producers. Those cheeses are consumed at quite different times of the year from when they are produced. Aid should therefore be granted for storage of those cheeses between the time they are produced and the time they are consumed.

2. The bulk of certain long-keeping cheeses and Pecorino Romano, Kefalotyri and Kasseri cheeses is produced in summer and by large numbers of small producers. Those cheeses are largely consumed in winter. Aid should therefore be granted for their storage during the intervening period.

Hard cheese translated?

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Some responses

Lawyer linguists

Early involvement, training, working together

Joint Practical Guide

Commission: Drafters Assistance Package

EP: online drafting assistance

Council: quality advisers

Commission Clear Writing Campaign

Linguists: Editing Service, guidance on writing in English

I believe that the right to good administration includes the right to clear and effective communication by government to EU citizens. ...

The key task now is to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, EuroEnglish is not allowed to drift too far away from standard English so that the scope for confusion and lack of clarity in the use of EuroEnglish is minimised.

(London, 15.5.2014)

EU Ombudsman

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IALS, 2014 ©William Robinson 18

CAN THE EU WRITE CLEARLY?