I.

History, structure and symbols of the European Union

1.Historical overview of the European Integration
The idea of the European Union came out after the Second World War, in order to prevent violent and devastating conflicts between countries of the continent in the future. Most powerful at that time were France and Germany and several western European leaders decided that the only way to form a lasting peace was by bringing their nations together under a supranational institutional structure. The first step towards the process of the European integration is considered to be the speech of the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Zurich University in Switzerland on 19 th of September 1946.There; he called for a kind of United States of Europe. Nevertheless the process of the foundation of the European Community itself began on 9th of May 1950 with the declaration of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs-Robert Schumann, on behalf of the French government. The declaration was made up by the visionary ideas of Jean Monnet and proposed to integrate French and German steel and coal production under one organization which would be open to other European countries. In that way, Germany and France could control each others access and use of steel and coal and they would never be able to produce weapons and start a new war. In fact the initiative of Schumann expressed much deeper aspirations such as the foundation of a European federation, indispensable to the preservation of peace. The German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer also supported this proposal and there were six founding countries who responded to Schumanns declaration in 1951 and signed the Treaty of Paris, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).Independent, supranational body called the High Authority had the power to take decisions about the coal and steel industry in these countries .So in 1952, Jean Monnet became the first president of the High Authority. The European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) were created on 25th of March 1957,when the six countries signed the Treaty of Rome. The EEC Treaty abolished quotas and customs duties between the Member States. It established a common external tariff, a sort of external frontier for Member States' products, replacing the preceding tariffs of the different states. This customs union was accompanied by a common trade policy. This policy, managed at Community level and no longer at state level, totally dissociated the customs union from a mere free-trade association. The purpose of Euroatom was to to pool the non-military nuclear resources of the states.

The basic institutions and decision-making mechanisms from the Treaty of Rome are still functioning in the European Union today. There was a success of the European integration and a period of economic growth in 1960 and it led to the first enlargement with UK, Denmark and Ireland in 1973. The benefits of economic convergence became more evident in the context of the 1970s energy crisis and financial bustle, which led to the launch of the European Monetary System in 1979. In the same year, the first direct elections to the European Parliament (EP) took place. Previously, delegates from national parliaments had represented their country's legislative bodies at the EP in Strasbourg, France. The accessions of Greece in 1981(second enlargement) which was followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986(third enlargement) led to the EEC`s adopting structural programs for reducing economic and social disparities among the regions. It became very easy for people to move around in Europe, as passport and customs checks were abolished at most of the EU's internal borders in 1990s.The main result is greater mobility for EU citizens. In 1991 the 12 members of the to be European Union met in the Dutch town named Maastricht and discussed the creation of the European Union. The Maastricht Treaty created the European Union as we know it today and led to the creation of the euro. It was signed on February 7, 1992 and entered into force on November 1, 1993.The countries that created it were: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. The treaty introduced the three-pillar structure that exists today (the European Communities pillar, the Common Foreign and Security Policy or CFSP pillar, and the Justice and Home Affairs pillar). Another Treaty was signed on the 2nd of October 1997 and this was the Treaty of Amsterdam. It came into force on 1st of May 1999 and its main changes were focused on the Treaty on European Union, created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.Its main areas of focus were increasing the democratic legitimacy of the European Institutions by increasing the powers of the European Parliament ,Security and Justice Reforms ,including the introduction of a common foreign and security policy, the reformation of the three pillars of the EU and the reform of the institutions to better prepare them for the upcoming enlargement. Unfortunately the Treaty failed in its goals. Neither of the weighting of votes in the Council, which was so central to enlargement plans ,nor the composition and working practices of the Commission were modified ;indeed even the desperately needed expansion of qualifiedmajority voting within the Council in the face of expanding membership proved to be unachievable .As far as the critics were concerned, the Treaty of Amsterdam failed to deliver 2

the necessary changes and was just another missed opportunity to achieve lasting deepening of the integration process. A new Treaty was signed in Nice on 26 February 2001, only three years and a half after the Treaty of Amsterdam did not aspire to give a fresh impetus to the European integration process. So the Treaty of Nice, which is actually the one in force, revised the Treaty of Amsterdam concerning mainly four institutional matters: the replacement of unanimity by qualified majority in decision-making procedures, the enhanced cooperation of some Member States, the weighting of votes in the Council and the size and the composition of the Commission. The Treaty of Nice came into force on 1 February 2003. The biggest wave of enlargement came on 1st of May 2004 with the accession of other new countries: Cyprus (Greece part), the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. The European Union grew to 27 member states in 1 January 2007, after Bulgaria and Romania officially joined it. The newest members raise the EU's population by 30 million to 490 million. The countries that make up the European Union (its "Member States") pooled their sovereignty in order to gain a strength and world influence none of them would have on its own. Pooling sovereignty means, in practice, that Member States delegate some of their decision-making powers to shared institutions they have created, so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be taken at European level. Economic and political integration between the member states of the European Union means that these countries have to take joint decisions on many matters. In the early days the focus was on a common commercial policy for coal and steel and a common agricultural policy. Other policies were added as time went by,and as the need arose. On 13th of December the heads of state and government of the 27 EU Member States, signed the Lisbon Treaty, which intended to reform the functioning of the Union following the two waves of enlargement which have taken place since 2004. It both strengthened and clarified the EU's development cooperation policy and, for the first time, set out humanitarian assistance as a specific Commission competence.Also there were other significant changes brought by the Treaty like: - reforming the system of the European Council presidencies from its current six-month rotation to appointing a full-time European Council President for a period of two-and-a-half years; - reducing the number of Commissioners (applicable from 2014); however, due to concessions made to Ireland after its failure to ratify the Treaty, this provision has been dropped;

- changing the weighting of votes by Member States (applicable from 2014); - extending the scope of qualified majority voting to new areas; The Lisbon Treaty is now ratified in all 27 EU Member States and entered into force on 1 December 2009.It is divided into two parts :the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Treaty on European Union set out the general provisions governing the European Union. It also set out the overall provisions of the EU's external relations. On the other hand, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union set out the specific objectives of the EU's various policies. Nowadays, there are several requirements for countries interested to join the EU that they must meet in order to proceed to accession and become a member state. The first requirement is from the political aspect. All of the countries must have a government which guarantees democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, as well as protecting the rights of minorities. The other important criterion is that all the countries must have a market economy that is strong enough to stand on its own within the competitive EU marketplace. Above all, the candidate country must be willing to follow the objectives of the EU that deal politics, the economy, and monetary issues. This also requires that they must be prepared to be part of the administrative and judicial structures of the EU. After it is believed that the candidate country has fulfilled all the requirements, the country is screened, and if approved, the Council of the European Union and the country draft a Treaty of Accession which then goes to the European Commission and European Parliament ratification and approval. If successful after this process the nation is able to become a member state. 2. Institutional Structure of the European Union With so many different nations participating, the governance of the EU is challenging, however, it is a structure that continually changes to become the most effective for the conditions of the time. There are a series of institutions which govern the day to day functioning of the European Union .(see Appendix B) Firstly, we will take a look at the Council of the European Union (see Appendix B.1) which is the central decision-making authority in the EC. It is responsible for passing laws proposed by the Commission and with the involvement of the European Parliament. The capacity in which members attend Council meetings changes according to the policy area being discussed for

example the European Community of Agricultural Ministers or Environmental Ministers might meet. Moreover, the respective member of the Commission is also present. Work in the Council would take up a large proportion of the time available to ministers from member states. Given that they can only spend short periods in Brussels, they need support. The Committee of Permanent Representatives plays an important role here. It is made up of the permanent representatives from the member states in Brussels and their deputies and meets up on a weekly basis. The Committee is responsible for monitoring and coordinating the work of around 250 committees and working groups, which are staffed by civil servants from the member states. The Councils Secretariat comprises a staff of around 2,500 working in six departments. Its duties are primarily of an administrative nature, meaning that it is responsible for things such as preparing the agenda for work to be done, giving reports, translation services, dealing with legal questions and etc. The Council is chaired by the President (currently Herman Van Rompuy) and includes the President of the European Commission (Jose Manuel Barroso) and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (Baroness Catherine Ashton).The position of the President gives greater continuity to the work of the European Council .The President is chosen by the leaders of the EU`s Member States for a period of 2.5 years, which can be renewed once. On second place comes the European Commission which is currently composed by 27 embers, proposed by the governments of the Member States and appointed for five years.(see Appendix B.2).The Commission has four main tasks. -Right of initiative: the decisions which are taken by Council have to be based on a proposal of the Commission. The task of the Commission then is to act as an engine of integration and draw proposals for the development of Community policy.; -Guarding treaties: the commission also has the task to monitor the application of treaty provisions and decisions made by other EC institutions and can appeal to the European Court of Justice when violations are identified.; -Executive authority of the implementation of Community policy: includes the administration of finances as well as the implementation of EC policies .But this does not mean that the Commission is responsible for making sure that the countless number of decrees and guidelines are implemented in individual member states.It has to monitor and supervise the actions being taken by the Member States.

-External representation: the Commission is responsible for representing the EU at the GATT
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and international organizations

So, as a whole the Commission implements the agenda set by the European Council, by developing and drafting legislation or other non-legislative measures and monitoring implementation of those measures Another institution of a very high importance is the European Parliament (see Appendix B.3). It consists of 736 Members at present, who are elected by citizens of the Member States, in order to represent their interests. The elections are held on every 5 years, using an electoral system called proportional representation. The Parliaments 20 standing committees are incredibly important for the work of the EP and its influence. During their five years in office, the members of the Parliament, who are active in the committees, are able to acquire a great deal of specialist knowledge. That knowledge enables them to follow the work of the Directorates General, the Commission and the Council of Ministers and also gives them more influence to bear than the official description which their responsibilities would suggest. To sum up, the European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union. Together with the Council of Ministers, it comprises the legislative branch of the institutions of the Union. It meets in two locations Brussels and Strasbourg. The European Court of Justice (see Appendix B.4), just like the European Parliament, sounds familiar to systems existing in national states.It consists of judges appointed by each Member State and is responsible for making sure that Community law is upheld. Also its task is to rule on legal disputes between member states, on disputes between the EU and member states and between EU institutions and authorities, as well as on disputes between individual citizens and the Union. In addition to that, judges in member states can turn to the Court of Justice to rule on pending cases involving the interpretation of Community law. The Court is based in Luxemburg, unlike most of the rest of the European Union institutions, which are based in Brussels and Strasbourg. The powers and responsibilities of all of these institutions are laid down in the Treaties, which are the foundation of everything the EU does. They also lay down the rules and procedures that the EU institutions must follow. The Treaties are agreed by the presidents and/or prime ministers of all the EU countries, and ratified by their parliaments. 3.Symbols The role of the symbols in the European Union is to provide an identity, having at the same time a unifying and a federating power. Every citizen of the Union can be influenced by means
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of symbols and their symbolisms, to forget what their differences are and to act in the common public good. It is important to know that the European symbols such as the flag, the anthem, the currency, the motto and the Europe Day make the Union more legitimate in the eyes of its citizens. We can also say that the symbols are a very quick and also efficient ways of communication. They are very important because all the ideas and emotions which they represent cannot be represented in another nonsymbolic way. Many ideas, values and emotional associations can be communicated through symbols in a short way avoiding intellectual elaboration. Most of the symbols are attractive and ceremonial and appeal to the sense of beauty. There is also a symbolic message given through them and it can make people act in pursuit of a particular goals. So, they are not only means of communication, but also important factors in social action. When the citizens of the European Union sing the same anthem, honor the same flag and use the same currency, they share a common sentiment. In that way, every political symbol acts as a sign of identity and it is generally detailed in a constitution. There are no ideals,however exalted in nature, which can afford to do without a symbol. These are the opening words of a memorandum on the European flag, drawn up by the Secretariat General of the Council of Europein1951. The European flag is the symbol not only of the European Union, but also of Europe`s unity and identity in a wider sense. The circle of gold stars represents solidarity and harmony between the people of Europe. The number of stars has nothing to do with the number of Member States. There are twelve stars because the number twelve is traditionally the symbol of perfection, completeness and unity. The flag therefore remains unchanged regardless of EU enlargements.

The Anthem comes from the Ninth Symphony composed in 1823 by Ludwig Van Beethoven. For the final movement of this symphony, Beethoven set to music the Ode to Joy written in 1785 by Friedrich von Schiller. This poem expresses Schiller`s idealistic vision of the human race becoming brothers-a vision which Beethoven shared. In 1972, the Council of Europe adopted Beethovens Ode to Joy theme as its own anthem. In 1985 it was adopted by EU heads of State and government as the official anthem of the European Union. The European motto United in diversity was chosen through a competition organized by a group of European citizens. Many Young Europeans aged between 10 and 20 submitted their 7

suggestions. The motto came into use around the year 2000 and was for the first time officially mentioned in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, which was signed in 2004.Its meaning is that, via the EU, Europeans are united in working together for peace and prosperity, and that the many different cultures, traditions and languages in Europe are a positive asset for the continent. On May 9 1950, the French Foreign Affairs Minister, Robert Schumann, presented his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal is known as Schuman Declaration and is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union. The 9th of May is now known as Europe Day. It is the occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and the people of the Union closer to one another. The Euro is the single currency of the European Union. Its symbol () was created by the European Commission as part of its communications work for the single currency. The design had to satisfy three simple criteria: to be highly recognizable symbol of Europe, to be easy to write by hand, and to have an aesthetically pleasing design. Not all Member States , however, decided to join the single currency.Nowadays,17 Member States use the euro as their official currency and these are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia ,France, Finland , Germany,Greece,Ireland,Italy,Luxemburg,Malta,Netherlands,Portugal,Slovakia,Slovenia Spain. Sweden, Denmark and the UK have decided not to join the euro for the time being. Every culture contains a cognitive model of the world, which defines their group of values, ideologies and stereotypes. The symbols of the European Union bind nations together and give them a picture of a strong and unified community of which people in it can be proud with. All the symbols mentioned here are already part of the Community and the Union. As long as the ideal of a European identity is expressed through images, signs and even songs, the relationship between the Union and its citizens will become stronger in time. and

APPENDIXES

Appendix A

European Union Member States

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Map of the EU from Wikipedia.org

APPENDIXES
Appendix B

European institutions
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B.1 Council of the European Union

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B.2 European Commission

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B.3 European Parliament

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B.4 European Court of Justice

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II. The European Union as a Multilingual Community and the Need for Translation and Interpreting Services.
1.Multilingualism
The European Union has 27 Member States and 23 official languages. This is one of the things that make it different from other major international organizations such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe or NATO2. Each Member State, when joining the Union, stipulates which language or languages it wants to have declared official in the EU. In 1957 the official languages were only 4-Dutch, French, German and Italian. In 1995 they are already 11 and after the accession of 10 new countries in 2004,9 new languages were added. The official languages of the Union now are : Bulgarian,Czech,Danish,Dutch,Estonian,English,Finnish,French,German,Greek,Hungarian, Italian,Irish,Latvian,Lithuanian,Maltese,Polish,Portuguese,Romanian,Slovak,Slovenian,Spanish and Swedish. The working languages of the European Commission are 3-English, French and German. Also the alphabets in the EU are 3-Latin, Greek and after Bulgaria`s accession Cyrillic. So the Union uses the languages chosen by its citizens own national government, not a single language or a few languages chosen by itself and which many people in the Union might not understand. What is important is that not only Treaty provisions, regulations and decisions, but also directives can be invoked by EU nationals, in their own language, before their national courts. The EU`s commitment to multilingualism is also legally significant as a guarantee of legal certainty and as a democratic accountability tool. The obligation to present Community law to the citizens of Europe in a language that they can comprehend is so fundamental that, without it not only legal certainty but, ultimately the rule of law itself would be at stake. At the same time ,the EU`s commitment to multilingualism guarantees democratic accountability and public The UN uses six official languages for its intergovernmental meetings and documents, while the Council of Europe, with a current membership of 45, and NATO, with a membership of 26, only uses English and French as their official languages.
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access to Community documents: restrictions in the number of languages that Community Institutions use, either internally or for their external communication and law-making purposes, would adversely affect the publics ability to invoke Community in their everyday dealings. The EU sees the use of its citizens` languages as one of the factors, which makes it more transparent, more legitimate and more efficient. Languages are fundamental for Europeans wanting to work together. They go to the very heart of the Unity in diversity of the European Union. We need to nurture and promote our linguistic heritage in the Member States but we also need to understand each other, our neighbors, our partners in the Unspeaking many languages makes business and citizens more competitive and more mobile. The European Commission needs to deliver results for citizens, and we need to communicate with you in a language you can understand. Promoting multilingualism is an excellent way to bring European citizens closer to each other. To give you access to information and to contributing your views. Learning languages leads to better understanding. Interpretation and translation can help you participate in the activities of the EU and read the publications of the EU. Promoting multilingualism in the different Policies of the European Union, such as culture, education, communication and employment is at the centre of my objectives. I want to make a real contribution to the competitiveness of the European Economy.3 All the official languages in the EU, represent three language families: Indo-European, FinnoUgric and Semitic .So, linguistic diversity has become more visible than ever because people now have much more contact with foreigners than ever before. People face situations where they have to speak languages other than their own, whether through student exchanges, migration and business in Europe`s integrated market, tourism or even general globalization. According to the Treaty of Lisbon, signed by the Heads of State or Government of all EU Member States in December 2007,the EU shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe`s cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced. In addition to this, the EU wants to ensure that the English language, although being the most widely-spoken language in Europe, will not reduce the linguistic diversity. For that reason it wants as many Europeans as possible to speak two languages apart from their own. This is an ambitious goal that is at the core of Commission policy on language skills.

[http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/orban/index_en.html]

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Recent research shows that some 28% Europeans know their own language and other two. The challenge for the EU is to expand this base as quickly and sustainably as possible. The European Commission encourages new activities to raise awareness about language learning opportunities and disseminate information about best practice in language teaching. The European Year of Languages in 2001, organized by the European Commission and the Council of Europe, gave languages a higher profile than ever before. Since then the European Day of Languages has been held on 26 September every year to help people appreciate the importance of language learning .With hundreds of activities taking place throughout Europe, the annual event demonstrates the creative ways in which languages can be learned. In 2003 the Commission committed itself through an Action Plan to 45 new actions to encourage national, regional and local authorities to join it in working for a major step change in promoting language learning and linguistic diversity. The actions of the Education and Training programs, which encourage mobility and transnational partnerships, motivate participants to learn languages. There is also an important fact that we have to mention-that we can find several types of multilingualism in the EU. At the individual level, multilingualism is the ability of speaking several languages: the mother tongue and one or more foreign languages. In the case of mixed families, there are children who speak two native languages. It is important to note the relationship between these languages: the mother tongue can be the official language of the country where a person lives and the second language is learnt in school as a tool. There are also cases of multilingual speakers at the border areas of the countries. Their multilingualism is based on historical reasons, family reasons or etc. Also a fourth type of multilingualism is found in countries which have two official languages like Belgium, for example4. When talking about multilinguism we cannot deny, that, the processes of language learning and language teaching are an essential part of it. EU citizens are encouraged to learn other European languages apart from their mother-tongue, because in that way they will have better professional and personal mobility within the single market and also better cross-cultural contacts and mutual understanding. A new EU study says that learning languages at a young age can give children major benefits. The most important of them is that it removes the boundaries between different cultures and makes children aware of many facts from todays world. Another benefit is that learning a Multilingualism in the European Union, the Core of the European Model of Values written by Pana Andra Dina
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foreign language can improve childrens chances of entry into a college or high school. Even when the institution does not require foreign language study, it is often recommended by programs. Knowing a language can only make a candidate more competitive in admissions process. Language teachers have a crucial role to play in building a multilingual Europe. With the right combination of language and pedagogical skills they can awaken in the learner an enthusiasm for languages that will last a lifetime. The schools role in language learning is not simply teaching languages, but making the process of teaching interesting and funny for children, in order that they pay attention to it. Schools have the difficult task to prepare children to take part in a society that is open to other cultures and in which they can come into contact with people from many different countries and traditions. Therefore, every school needs a coherent, unified policy which takes as its starting point the linguistic and cultural mix of the local community and in which knowledge about languages, practical skills in using languages and skills in how to learn languages are given due to weight. Increased intra-European mobility, migration and economic globalization have dramatically multiplied interaction between speakers of different languages. This trend seems to continue. Multilingualism can be a way of adapting to this globalization process and turning it into an opportunity rather than a challenge. Multilingual chats make it possible for citizens to participate in an open dialogue on topical issues. Remote participants can type questions or comments in their own language. Their questions are read out (and interpreted) in the meeting room, and they hear and the answer in their language through web-streamed interpretation. All these technologies, by extending the benefits of multilingualism beyond the institutions, help bring the EU closer to its citizens and encourage understanding and dialogue. With all of the Commission legislation and many of its publications being multilingual, the Commission has developed the worlds largest, most technically advanced translation and interpretation services. While the balance between demand and resources has become more delicate over time, a founding principle of the Union, namely equality of all official languages, has been upheld. The European Union is a unique political creation. Its identity is based on the wealth of its languages and its culture. Never before have former enemies decided to pool large parts of their sovereignty, as equals, on an entirely voluntary basis. To do this calls for a phenomenal amount of mutual trust and cooperation. And just as no country imposes its will on others, no single language would suffice. EU documents are laws which have to be applied by governments, by companies and by citizens. The public must be able to read and understand them ,and their 17

elected representatives must be able to debate in Europe without being hampered by language difficulties .When decisions are taken ,they need to know exactly what they are signing up to. They require- and deserve the level of a full multilingual regime. In Member States, the Commission has field officers for multilingualism, making sure websites and communication events explain Brussels in the lively language of a local debate. In turn they provide the Commission with up-to-date feedback about national views. 2. Interpreting and Translation for Europe As a democratic organization, the EU has to communicate with its citizens in their own language .The same goes for national governments and civil services, business and other organizations all over the EU. Europeans have the right to know what is being done in their name in order to be able to play an active part. Giving everyone at the table a voice and a document in their own language is fundamental requirement of the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. There should be no obstacle to understanding and putting views in meetings. The citizens of Europe should not have to be represented in Brussels, Luxemburg and Strasbourg by their best linguists: they can send their best experts. Interpreting and translation are two linguistic disciplines which are closely related and can be confused. Yet they are rarely performed by the same people. The difference in skills, training, aptitude and even language knowledge are so substantial that few people can do both successfully on a professional level. On the surface, the difference between interpreting and translation is only the difference in the medium: the interpreter translates orally, while a translator interprets written texts. Both interpreting and translation presuppose a certain love of language and deep knowledge of more than one tongue. International meetings and conferences are attended by people from different backgrounds and cultures who often speak different languages. Conference interpreters help stakeholders communicate with each other, not by translating every word they utter, but by conveying the ideas which they express. They maintain complete confidentiality concerning what they hear and see. a. Interpreting Services in the EU The Interpreting services of the European Union are the worlds largest employers of conference interpreters. By enabling communication and facilitating dialogue, interpreters act as a bridge between cultures and often find themselves at the very heart of the decision-making process. 18

There are two main techniques in interpreting. The first one is consecutive interpreting where the interpreter uses a special form of note-taking while the speaker is speaking and then gives back the speech in another language as soon as the speaker has finished. It conveys the speakers intentions: not the words but the ideas. The interpreter has to build a hierarchy of the information that they have received. Some parts of the speakers speech are more important and others are relatively trivial. So, the interpreter has to prioritize them when delivering the speech. Also in the process of interpreting, the interpreter focuses on the introduction and conclusion of the speech, because these are the framing parts of it. This makes it easy for the interpreter to handle on the speakers personal opinion which is a very important part of the interpretation. The speech of the interpreter reproduces the same effect on the audience, which is got from the speaker. The second type of interpreting, which accounts for over 90% of all conference interpreting is simultaneous interpreting, where the interpreter listens to the speaker and interprets at the same time whilst keeping pace with the speaker. This form of interpreting requires meeting rooms specially equipped with soundproof booths for the interpreters and electronic equipment for sound amplification, transmission and often recording .It is one of the most difficult kinds of interpreting and very few translators can do it, and not even all can do it well. Interpretation becomes visible when it is not done properly. In simultaneous interpreting the, interpreter is someone elses voice, representing someone else`s ideas. The language arrangements for international meetings vary considerably from consecutive interpretation between two languages, for which only one interpreter may be required, to simultaneous interpretation at EU meetings into and out of 23 or more languages, which requires at least 69 interpreters. The Directorate General for Interpretation (DG Interpretation) is part of the European Commission, the executive organ of the European Union headquartered in Brussels. DG Interpretation provides quality interpretation in meetings organized by the Commission and the other institutions it serves and is also a conference organizer for Commission services. The Council of the Union, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Investment Bank, and the agencies and offices in Member States are all supplied with interpreters by DG Interpretation. The European Commission aims to serve the actual needs for interpreters and provides interpreters worldwide. Long-standing training schemes with universities and authorities of

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Member States and Non-Member States, contribute to a steady supply of interpreters around the globe. In order to ensure equal access to justice at EU-level, it is essential to enable the parties to express themselves in their own language. The Courts Interpretation Directorate provides simultaneous interpreting during the public hearings before the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal. The number of languages used varies from one hearing to another, depending on the needs of the parties, the judges and the official languages of the Member States involved .The rules of procedure require the Judges to deliberate in closed session, and interpreters are not present at deliberations. French is the common language in which the Court, by custom, deliberates and drafts its judgments. The interpreters must have a thorough knowledge of all their working languages, but the ability to analyze and understand the speakers argument is equally important. At the Court of Justice precision is essential, and prior study of the case-file, which is prepared in the language of the case and French, is an integral part of an interpreters work. Knowledge of French is usually necessary to study case documents, since some texts may not be available in other languages. DG Interpretation has 558 staff interpreters and provides some 150 000 interpreter days per year, of which about half are freelance days. DG Interpretation and Conferences (DG INTE) supplies interpreters for all the European Parliaments meetings, as well as for other services outside the EP, including the Court of Auditors, the Committee of the Regions, the European Ombudsman, the European Data Protection Officer, the European Commission in Luxembourg and the Translation Centre. An increasing number of the Parliaments meetings are broadcast live on the internet. As well as traveling to Strasbourg every month for the plenary sessions, the EP`s interpreters travel all over the world, accompanying by delegations to overseas conferences, on visits to other parliaments and on election observation missions. b. Translation Services in the EU The translation services of the Union institutions are the largest in the world in terms of size and variety of languages and themes covered. They offer excellent career prospects at the heart of European integration. The institutions employ large number of high-qualified professional translators working into and out of the 20 official languages. Opportunities are available for both staff translators, stationed at the various places of work of the institutions, and freelance translators working externally. There are also openings for lawyer-linguists, translators with a degree in law. 20

The major activity of the translation services which work for the European Unions institutions and bodies is to supply versions in the official languages of official texts produced by those organizations. The underlying principle is that documents are translated into the languages required by EU law and otherwise strictly according to need. Much of the material translated is legislation and the documents leading up to it. The initial proposals in the Commission are usually drafted, circulated and discussed internally in one or two languages, but when the texts make their way to the Parliament ,the Council and the Committees for further debate, amendment and finalization they have to be supplied in every official language so that everyone involved knows exactly what they contain .All these bodies give their input in all official languages .And of course ,all finalized EU laws have to be published in the Official Journal in all the official languages before they can enter into force. The European Union institutions have to be accessible and open as possible, to the general public as well as to government departments and official and unofficial interest groups of all kinds. The Commission sees it as its duty to foster a democratic culture in which, individual, local, regional and national characteristics are respected and safeguarded. This is reflected in Article 21 (see Appendix 2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which stipulates that citizens of the Member States have the right to communicate with the EU institutions in their own language. Equal status for the official languages does not mean that all texts are translated into all the official languages. A letter to an individual or an internal memo, for example, will be sent in only one language which may or may not involve translation. A committee may decide to work in a limited number of languages until it produces a proposal for wider discussion, which must then be available in all the official languages. In the interests of cost-effectiveness, the Commission conducts its internal business in English, French and German, going fully multilingual only when it communicates with the other EU institutions, the Member States and the public. The Directorate General for Translation (DG Translation) is the in-house translation service of the European Commission and is geographically divided between Brussels and Luxembourg, with staff split more or less evenly between the two. It works in all the official languages of the European Union, and as new countries join, their main languages are added to the number. Like other established staff at the Commission, translators are recruited by open competition .The competitions for translators at the Commission are always held to recruit staff with a

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particular main language. It takes an average of eight to ten months to go through the competition procedure. The competition itself consists of written tests (multiple -choice questions and two translation tests in the required target language), followed by an oral test. Successful candidates are placed on a reserve list that remains valid for a number of years. The validity of the lists may be extended, but getting a place on the reserve list is no guarantee of recruitment. As vacancies arise in the various translation or support units ,they are filled by appointing reserve-list candidates whose personal profile matches the recruitments of the post (qualifications ,languages and specialized knowledge) and DGT`s needs. Translators recruited to the Commissions permanent staff are usually appointed at the starting grade in the administrator category. The Directorate General has three further directorates: the Transversal Linguistic Services Directorate (which deals with specialist areas such as web translation, editing ,documentation and outreach in the Member States),the Resources Directorate (which handles staffing ,IT, finance and physical infrastructure),and finally the Translation Strategy Directorate (which deals with workflow and policy issues).Each directorate is headed by a director ,and at the top of the structure is the director-general. Within the language departments, translators specialize in translating documents about particular areas of the European Commissions work. The subjects are: administration; agriculture and rural development; competition; taxation and customs union; education and culture; employment and social affairs; energy and transport; enterprise and industry; environment; external relations; fisheries and maritime affairs; health and consumer protection; information society and the media; internal market and services; economic and financial affairs; regional policy; research, statistics; trade. The language departments are divided into units specializing in combinations of these subjects. The staff subject in each department reflects translation demand for that language. English, French and German - the procedural languages, meaning those in which the Commission conducts its internal business- have more staff than the non-procedural languages, as they translate a larger volume of pages and a greater variety of documents. The translating units are staffed by academically and professionally qualified translators and revisers, together with assistants. As well as translation proper, the individual language departments also take charge of terminology and documentation and are responsible for keeping linguistic standards high and consistent in DGT`s output in each of the official languages.

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A central demand management unit liaises with DGT`s customers, i.e. the Commissions other directorates-general and services, and in consultation with them-sets the priorities for documents sent for translation. Other staffs, both translators and non-translators, perform a variety of organizational, technical and research functions in the support units. These include administrative and managerial tasks, the development of translation aids, training, information technology, outsourcing of translation work, secretarial duties and so on. There are mechanisms to guarantee the quality of translated texts through revision, checking and supervision, and translators receive ongoing training and information. Also all external translators undergo systematic assessment with feedback given to translation providers. Consistency in terminology is guaranteed by the use of translation memories and databases of core EU terminology. A vital prerequisite for a good translation is a well written original text. Clear, concise documents written to a high standard are essential to any public authority, especially a multilingual organization in which most of the writers are not working in their own languages. Over recent years, English has replaced French as the principal drafting language in the Commission. About three-quarters of all Commission-drafted texts are now in English. To make sure this material is up to the required standard, DGT has Editing Unit whose task is to correct and edit the language of original texts and to provide advice to authors and originating departments. There are more than 1 750 translators working full-time on translating documents and on other language-related tasks ,accompanied by some 600 support staff in management,secretarial,communication,information, technology and training functions. The work of the EU`s institutional translation enhances the EU`s openness, legitimacy and efficiency. Their precise tasks and working methods vary depending on the role of each institution. Beyond the European institutions, translation operations are at the centre of a thriving industry with activities ranging from globalization of websites to localization of handbooks and video games, from legal translation to subtitling of films and videos. Today, people learn foreign languages more often than in the past. However, the need for translation has not disappeared. On the contrary, phenomena such as globalization and the rapid pace of technological development, with the related need for user guides for emerging new products, as well as increasing numbers of TV channels, have increased the amount of translation needed. 23

APPENDIXES
Appendix C

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Council Regulation 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community, as amended after each enlargement.

Article 1
The official languages and the working languages of the institutions of the Unity shall be: Bulgarian,Czech,Danish,Dutch,English,Estonian,Finnish,French,German,Greek, h and Swedish. Hungarian, Irish,Italian,Latvian,Lithuanian,Maltese,Polish,Portuguese,Romanian,Slovak,Slovenian,Spanis

Article 2
Documents which a Member State or a person subject to the jurisdiction of a Member State sends to institutions of the Union may be drafted in any one of the official languages selected by the sender. The reply shall be drafted in the same language.

Article 3
Documents which an institution of the Union sends to a Member State or to a person subject to the jurisdiction of a Member State shall be drafted in the language of such State.

Article 4
Regulations and other documents of general application shall be drafted in the official languages.

Article 5
The Official Journal of the Community shall be published in the official languages.

Article 6
The institutions of the Union may stipulate in their rules of procedure which of the languages are to be used in specific cases.

Article 7
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The languages to be used in the proceedings of the Court of Justice shall be laid down in its rules of procedure

Article 8.
If a Member State has more than one official language, the language to be used shall, at the request of such State, be governed by the general rules of its law.

The Regulation is based on the EC Treaty. Article 290 and Article 314 lay down the principle of multilingualism. Article 21 states that every citizen of the Union may write to any of the institutions or bodies in one of the languages mentioned in Article 314 and have an answer in the same language.

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