Brussels, 16/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 13 June, the "General Affairs" Council adopted without debate a regulation granting the Irish language, Gaelic, the status of a European Union official and working language as of 2007. This brings the number of official and working languages of the European institutions to 21. The whole of the acquis must now be translated into Gaelic.
The Council also adopted conclusions allowing European citizens to address the community institutions in a regional language whose status is recognised by the Constitution of a Member State in all or part of its territory (or the use of which as a national language is authorised by law), but which is not an EU official or working language- such as Catalan, Basque or Galician in Spain. "The Council considers that as part of efforts made to bring the Union closer to its citizens, the wealth of its linguistic diversity should be taken on board more. The Council feels that allowing citizens to use additional languages in their dealings with the institutions is an important factor in reinforcing their identification with the political project of the European Union", the conclusions read. The official use of these regional languages in contacts with the European institutions will be done on the basis of an administrative arrangement concluded between the institution in question and the Member State. Direct and indirect costs linked to the implementation of this by the EU institutions will be borne by the requesting Member State.
In concrete, this means that: -for the publication of adopted legislative acts, the government of a Member State can send a European Parliament and the Council a certified translation of acts adopted in co-decision in one of the regional languages in question. The Council will add to this translation to its archives and issue copies on demand. The Council will publish these translations on its web site. In both cases, it will be made clear that these translations have no legal value; -for oral contributions at sessions of the Council or at meetings of the European Parliament, the government of a Member Stage can ask to use one of the regional languages in question (with passive interpretation); -for the written correspondence of the citizens with the European institutions, the Member State may provide that when one of its citizens wishes to address an EU institution in one of the regional languages in question, it can formulate this request to a designated body via the government of this Member State. This body will forward the text of the communication to the European institution in question, with a translation into the official language of the Member State in question. The same procedure will apply, mutatis mutandis, to the EU's response.