European languages' future not necessarily at stake


Did I already tell you that I commute and work in Brussels every day? Besides being the capital of Belgium, Brussels has become the polyglot home of various international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants. In the Belgian city which hosts several institutions of the European Union (EU), there has been much talk about the following news lately: an Ombudsman criticized the restrictive language policy of the European Commission (EC) regarding public consultations and the Erasmus student exchange program of the EU is now short on funds.

EC under fire over language policy

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, criticized the EC for refusing to conduct public consultations in the 23 official languages of the European Union (EU). He called it on to publish its public consultation documents in all 23 EU languages or to provide translations upon request.

In a decision issued on October 11th, the Ombudsman found that launching EC public consultations in only a few EU languages constituted maladministration.

The decision said that the EC "has not shown any real willingness to ensure that all European citizens are able to understand its public consultations, which should, as a matter of principle, be published in all the treaty languages."

It also noted that the EC had not provided any "convincing and acceptable justification" for limiting the use of EU languages in public consultations.

The Ombudsman has issued a decision on a complaint from a Spanish lawyer about some public consultation documents that are available in English or in a limited number of EU languages only, even if they are intended for the general public. The lawyer, who argued that the EC's policy was arbitrary and contradicted the principles of openness, good administration and non-discrimination, brought the initial complaint in 2010.

According to Nikiforos Diamandouros, multilingualism is essential for citizens to exercise their right to participate in the democratic life of the EU. The Ombudsman’s decision is publicly available at:

The EC’s response in November was that it had to prioritise its translation work in view of a limited budget and demands of the legislative process. It also indicated that EU citizens have the right to submit their responses to public consultations in any of the 23 official languages.

It is nevertheless very funny to see that only the English and Spanish versions of the decision have been made available online. It looks like the other 21 official languages have been forgotten indeed...

Erasmus short on funds

For 25 years, the Erasmus program has helped students to do some of their degree work abroad. This EU student exchange program is nevertheless in danger of becoming the victim of its own success. According to the EC, today’s Erasmus budget has a staggering shortfall of some €90 million ($117 million). This will need to be filled by a supplementary budget. If not, any student who receives a place in the Erasmus program for 2013 cannot be sure whether his exchange year will actually take place or not. 99% of the budget for 2012 was already used up by October because of the growing popularity of the program among students. 

So far, the budget of the EU student exchange program had always covered the administrative costs behind the program itself and the scholarships for those who were selected to participate.

The needed supplementary budget has recently been met with hesitations by EU governments. In today’s economic crisis, the dispute is clearly over money. Nevertheless, the chairman of the European Council, Cyprus’ Andreas Mavroyannis, has promised a solution to the problem. One other question remains nevertheless open: when will this problem actually be solved? No time frame has ever been given so far.

Erasmus is important for EU integration. It helps ease conflicts as well as controversies. It also gives a unique chance to improve foreign language skills. Even if some students might not work as hard during their exchange year, it was still a crucial experience for most of them. Should the ongoing funding issues be solved by 2014, there will then be hope for improvements to the program. In future, it could be easier for students to get their masters abroad indeed...

Studying abroad is undoubtedly often good both for academic and personal development. Erasmus is probably one of the only projects that made generations of young people believe in a true European Union. What impact will it have on the European youth if the program is in jeopardy?

Let me reassure you straight away: there are many other excellent international youth exchange programs besides Erasmus. Some of them are even better structured and focus even more on cultural exchange (the student is considered as an ambassador of his country of origin during his exchange year). A long time ago, before the existence of Erasmus, I was actively involved in one of them (funded by the world-known service club Rotary International) and it is still running successfully today.

Click on the following link for more information on the Rotary Youth Exchange Program: https://www.rotary.org/en/youth-exchanges



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