Multilingualism - The challenge of enlargement

In view of the large number of candidate countries, the question arises whether the EU will be able to retain its unique policy of language equality in future enlargement. Despite the Commission's commitment to language equality, there are bound to be some changes in the current language policy that limit the rights of the 'smaller' official languages. The least problematic scenario is depicted. Each candidate country is required to translate all Community law in force by the date of its accession. Since the translations will be approved and authenticated by the EU only if they are reliable, translators in the candidate countries must produce translations that guarantee legal certainty. Developing sound translation strategies is the key to the success of the translations in the new languages and the future of multilingualism in the EU.