Brussels, 17/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - In Special Report 5/2005 published on 15 November, the European Court of Auditors says that 'a number of measures need to be taken to reduce cost and to avoid the provision of interpretation that was requested but not used'. The Court of Auditor's calculations show that the total cost of providing interpreting services was EUR 57 mil for the European Parliament in 2003, and EUR 106 mil for the Commission, Council, Committee and various agencies. The average cost per interpreter per day was EUR 1476 at the Parliament and EUR 1046 at the Commission's DG Interpretation.
The report shows that 'while the European institutions have been able to take pragmatic steps to limit and control interpretation costs, further savings could be made if late cancellations, last-minute meeting requests or changes and unequal distribution of meetings over the course of the week and the year were reduced… Cost savings could also be achieved by applying stricter conditions to the reimbursement of travel expenses of freelance interpreters, integrating computer systems further, reducing the number of interpreters kept on stand-by and increasing inter-institutional cooperation.
The institutions have adopted differing approaches to responding to requests for interpretation. Whereas the Commission examines which interpretation services are really needed, there is no such examination at the European Parliament, where all requests which formally comply with the rules are accepted as far as resources are available. In 2004, the Council adopted a new procedure providing clear incentives to limit interpretation requests. The Court of Auditors recommends that the best practices observed in the Commission and Council should be extended to the Parliament.
The Court of Auditors points out that twenty-one languages have the status of official working languages of the EU institutions. The European Parliament has its own interpretation department, and the interpreting needs of the Council and Commission are catered for by the DG for Interpretation at the Commission. Because of variation in interpreting requirements over the year, the European institutions have permanent interpreters (EU officials) and freelance conference interpreters.