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IGC 2007. The translation of the draft treaty completed, the timetable becomes clearer

(B2 - archives) The work of translating the draft treaty – as presented on 23 July at the opening of the Intergovernmental Conference – into 20 languages ​​is almost complete.

Most of the missing languages ​​have been translated. Once the legal experts of the 27 Member States have agreed on all the modifications to be made, all that remains is to incorporate them into this text. Which should “not take too long” according to a lawyer, because there are few new texts to incorporate. Most of the changes relate, in fact, to " additions of a few words, changed punctuations, harmonization of certain concepts ". “Except for the Schengen protocol”, there are therefore not too many notable modifications.

The lawyer-linguists will then have to take over, to check article by article, the conformity of all the versions. This work may not be completed in time for October. But the Heads of State and Government should at least find, in their binders, at the European summit in Lisbon, on October 18 and 19, a provisional text in their national language. The final signing of the text is scheduled for December, either at the EU-Africa summit, or at the European Council, or during a special trip to the Portuguese capital of the Foreign Ministers, signing the text on behalf of the 27.

Before the definitive signature, the Charter of Fundamental Rights will have to be (re)proclaimed, probably within the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, at one of the plenary sessions – at the November or December session – and published in the Official Journal of the EU.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
article published in Europolitics on 3 October 2007

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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