New enlargement: the very new buildings will not be able to host the new members!

WHEN A PARLIAMENT PLAYS THE OSTRICH ...

Will a sweet melody of pneumatic-drills oblige the MPEs to a new "transhumance"?

The question of the (non)communication within the European Union in general, and in its institutions in particular, has become, since the last enlargements,an explosive question that risks to paralyse the whole process.

Today the Union counts 11 official languages; tomorrow they will be 16, the day after 20, eventually 25! We will pass then from the today's 110 linguistic combinations to 240 combinations with 16 official languages and to 600 with 25 official languages.

As from tomorrow already, because of lack of cabins, the buildings of the EP, yet just built, will no longer guarantee the interpretation towards all the languages of the Union. Today, this system provokes big delays in the translation of certain documents and dysfunctions for all the interpretation services.

The time has come for our Parliament to face this question without taboos or hypocrisy and find solutions that could:

a) preserve the cultural and linguistic diversities of the Union;

b) favour the communication between all the citizens of the Union and not only for those who are members of privileged minorities;

c) favour the communication between citizens and institutions;

d) facilitate, simplify and rationalize the communication within the institutions;

e) favour the communication between the citizens of the Union and the rest of the world.

Even if there is not a miraculous solution, some are available:

1. we should introduce a limited number of 'working languages' without re-questioning the interpretation of the parliamentary works and the translation of legislative documents in all official languages;

2. we should introduce a language of juridical reference and

bridge language, esperanto, in the system of interpretation and translation within the EU institutions;

3. we should introduce in all European schools the teaching of a first 'second' common language, i.e. Esperanto, a language which is recognized as easy to learn and with propedeutical characteristics.

Olivier Dupuis Gianfranco Dell'Alba

For more information, please send back this coupon to one of thefollowing fax numbers: 0032-2-230.36.70 or 0033-3-88.17.91.98

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