A War Over Words Thwarts European Union

In the polite diplomatic parlance prevailing at European Union summits like the one that wrapped up here Saturday, the reason some German and Finnish officials are no longer on speaking terms might be described as a simple matter of interpretation.

But in the more direct words of those observing the 4-month-old spat from behind the scenes, powerful Germany is trying to throw its weight around the 15-nation alliance--and Finland is refusing to be cowed.

Since handing over the EU presidency to Finland in July, Germany has been boycotting working meetings to protest the Finns’ refusal to give the language of Goethe equal footing with French and English.

Germany launched the Sprachenstreit, or language battle, in June, when Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sent a letter to Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen warning: No German translation, no Germans.

Germany’s finance, culture and housing ministers--all of whom speak fluent English--have since boycotted sessions in Finland intended to work out the details of the EU’s plans to develop common approaches to everything from taxation to building codes to book sales.

But despite the snubs and setbacks in drafting such integration reforms, the Finns are holding fast to their belief that, when it comes to time-consuming translation, less is more.

“When you introduce another language, be it German or Italian or Spanish, you raise protests from other countries about why only three,” says Finland’s EU affairs spokesman, Reijo Kemppinen. “Then you easily enter a debate over why not four, or five, or eight, and quite soon you would be translating every comment into all 11” languages in the bloc.

Some in the EU suspect that Germany’s aim is to gain status more than illumination. Germany has made clear that it considers itself first among equals by virtue of having the biggest population in the alliance and spending the most to keep the group afloat.

“The European policy of [former Chancellor Helmut] Kohl was above all marked by a spirit of cooperation, while today Germany is mainly pushing its own interests,” Finnish European Affairs Minister Kimmo Sasi complained in an interview with the German newspaper Maerkische Allgemeine Zeitung on the eve of the summit.

EU practices set out in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty designate only English and French as official languages to be used at all meetings. As a courtesy, the language of the country holding the presidency can also be used at the informal meetings.

Summits and important sessions are conducted with simultaneous translation in all 11 languages, but the Finns contend that it is both costly and cumbersome to employ that system at the working level.

“The Germans think--and they’ve said this themselves--that because they are one of the biggest countries in the EU, that they are entitled to use their own language even in informal meetings,” says Kemppinen, who notes that the matter has been referred to the EU’s executive body in Brussels for a final decision.

Language at the level of experts was never an issue in the EU until after the yearlong reign of German-speaking presidents that ended with the beginning of Finland’s term. Germany held the bloc presidency for the first six months of this year and Austria for the second half of 1998.

“This is not a fight between the Germans and the EU. We have an absolutely identical position with the Austrians, as well as with the French,” says Schroeder’s chief foreign policy advisor, Michael Steiner. “All we are asking for is a return to the status quo. Under previous presidencies, working meetings, where some very complicated and detailed matters are discussed, were also translated into German.”

With its 82 million residents, Germany is the most populous country in the EU, and its economy is the most influential. Including those in Austria and small areas of Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France, German speakers number more than 90 million--more than a quarter of the EU population.

“It is just impractical to have too many languages in use at informal meetings,” says Lea Virtala, head of the translation unit for the Finnish EU presidency. “Sometimes there is just not the space or the logistics. We think interpretation should be offered on the basis of real need.”

The success of integration reforms, such as justice and immigration policies adopted at the 11-way-translated meetings here Friday and Saturday, depends on diligent work at the remaining working sessions of the EU ahead of a summit scheduled for Dec. 11-12 in the Finnish capital, Helsinki. At that meeting, the leaders are expected to issue invitations for negotiations on membership to the first six of the many nations seeking to join the alliance.

“We need to find a solution before enlargement,” says Kemppinen, “or the problem is only going to get bigger.”

While Finland has so far stuck to its guns at the informal sessions, the clock favors Germany to eventually prevail in the Sprachenstreit.

Portugal will assume the presidency in January and has already conveyed its intention of abiding by what the Germans call “long-standing tradition.” And France, which will take the EU helm for the second half of 2000, shares Berlin’s view that, on the issue of language, size matters.