MULTILINGUALISM IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: UNITY (AND CHALLENGE) IN DIVERSITY

Abstract

While being part of the European Union's commitment to preserve its linguistic and cultural diversity, the multilingualism of this supranational organization also poses some challenges due to the unprecedented number of the official languages recognized. After a quick historical overview on the evolution from 4 to 24 languages today, and a short comparison with other international organizations' approach regarding the languages, we will present the current relevant legal provisions, after the Treaty of Lisbon, regulating the linguistic regime of the EU, followed by an overview of the way the EU institutions (for example, the Council, the European Parliament, the Commission, the European Court of Justice) use language in their activities. The purpose of this paper is to identify the right, pragmatic balance between, on one side, the need to give equal legal status to all the Member States' official languages, as a manifestation of a general principle of equality between the EU citizens, and, on the other side, the 'costs' of this linguistic pluralism, in terms of accuracy and uniformity of interpretation of legal texts and case law, efficiency, time frame, transparency, financial costs, inevitable complications and difficulties. We will also see how language could be seen and used as a bridge to unity within the EU, through communication between individuals, between the EU institutions and EU citizens, within the EU institutions, rather than a barrier, while at the same time aiming to also preserve an important element, namely the practical efficiency of the functioning of the European process in its entire complexity.

Keywords

• language
• diversity
• multilingualism
• EU institutions
• EU law
• equality principle