Iuliu Winkler MEP (EPP) warns about the negative impact on the democratic mechanisms and on the integration process because of the limitation in using all official languages of the EU in the European institutions. 

“Multilingualism is one of the fundamental principles of the EU and one of the EU’s assets, reflecting the cultural and lingual diversity within the EU. Today, we are using 23 official languages. Because of the crisis, it is necessary to cut the expenditures of the European institutions, and I agree with that. But, we have to be responsible when we identify the certain domains in which we can save money. In the EP, there are constantly attempts in curtailing the use of languages “less frequently spoken” in favour of the three “work” languages (English, French and German). Now, the Committee of the Regions has an initiative regarding the renunciation of its own interpreters and translators. That it is a very injurious measure”, declared Iuliu Winkler in Strasbourg, on Monday, during the plenary “one minute speech” procedure.

The deputy added that the EU belongs to its citizens from all the 27 Member State, soon 28, who speak 23 languages, soon 24, all of these languages being official and equal in the EU, none above other.
The Committee of the Regions plans to realize a merging of its own service for translation and interpretation with that of the European Parliament by suppressing the first one. The EPP Group in the Committee of the Regions considers that such of measure will endanger the institutional independence of the Committee, this point of view being supported by Iuliu Winkler.