The European Parliament decided by 493 votes to 128, with 32 abstentions, to extend Rule 147 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure until the end of the eighth parliamentary term.

To recall, pursuant to Rule 146, all Parliament’s documents are to be drawn up in the official languages, and all Members have the right to speak in Parliament in the official language of their choice, with interpretation being provided into the other official languages.

Under Rule 147, derogations from Rule 146 are permissible until the end of the seventh parliamentary term if and to the extent that, despite adequate precautions, the linguists required for an official language are not available in sufficient numbers. With respect to each official language for which a derogation is considered necessary, the Bureau, on a proposal from the Secretary-General, is required to ascertain whether the conditions are fulfilled and to review its decision every six months.

Council Regulation (EC) No 920/2005 provides for temporary (renewable) derogation measures for a five-year period in respect of Irish until the beginning of 2017.

According to the Parliament, capacity in Irish and Maltese is not expected to be such as to allow a full interpretation service in those languages from the beginning of the eighth parliamentary term. For certain other languages, although there will be sufficient capacity to cover the needs arising from Parliament’s usual activities, the number of interpreters may not be sufficient to allow full coverage of all the extra needs expected during the Council presidencies of the Member States concerned during the eighth parliamentary term.

The number of qualified translators and lawyer-linguists is still expected to be so limited as regards Irish that, for the foreseeable future, full coverage of that language under Rule 146 cannot be assured.

Moreover, it will not be possible for Parliament’s services to prepare Irish versions of other types of legislative acts.

In addition, although capacity in Croatian is steadily increasing following Croatia’s accession to the Union on 1 July 2013, it may not be possible to ensure full coverage of that language from the beginning of the eighth parliamentary term.

In the light of the foregoing, Parliament decided, following the Bureau’s recommendation, to extend Rule 147 until the end of the eighth parliamentary term.