“After consulting the Foreign Press Association, we have decided to re-introduce translation in all languages, whenever possible, for the press conferences held on days other than Wednesdays”, said the spokesperson of the European Commission, Françoise Le Bail. The announcement effectively ends the dispute over the limitation to English, French and German for the simultaneous translation of the press conferences of Commissioners on days other that Wednesdays, a kind of “trilingual regime” suddenly introduced, which had aroused strong formal protests from both the Italian and Spanish governments. The minimum compromise solution reached by the Executive with journalists – also following the pressure exerted by the Luxembourg Presidency that backed the Italo-Spanish protests envisaged a minimum number of eight languages, including Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish and in any event the mother tongue of the particular Commissioner present at the press conference. The latest statement on the matter by the Commission’s spokesperson represents however a complete about-turn and a reinstatement of the regime that comprises all the official languages of the European Union (subject, that is, to the availability of interpreters).
