Insert your own EU joke here

According to the Financial Times, many citizens of the new European Union entrants literally cannot understand the acquis communautaire: Less than two months before 10 new member states join the European Union, it has emerged that about half have failed to translate the EU’s 85,000-page rulebook into their national languages. The embarrassing disclosure could have ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

According to the Financial Times, many citizens of the new European Union entrants literally cannot understand the acquis communautaire:

Less than two months before 10 new member states join the European Union, it has emerged that about half have failed to translate the EU's 85,000-page rulebook into their national languages. The embarrassing disclosure could have serious legal consequences, because EU laws are only enforceable in the new member states when written in the national tongue. Some countries began the vast translation exercise as long ago as 1996, but the complexity of the work - and a shortage of translators - has overwhelmed some accession candidates. "There is an urgent need for this to be done, or there will be problems in implementing EU law in some acceding states," said a spokesman for Günter Verheugen, the EU enlargement commissioner.

According to the Financial Times, many citizens of the new European Union entrants literally cannot understand the acquis communautaire:

Less than two months before 10 new member states join the European Union, it has emerged that about half have failed to translate the EU’s 85,000-page rulebook into their national languages. The embarrassing disclosure could have serious legal consequences, because EU laws are only enforceable in the new member states when written in the national tongue. Some countries began the vast translation exercise as long ago as 1996, but the complexity of the work – and a shortage of translators – has overwhelmed some accession candidates. “There is an urgent need for this to be done, or there will be problems in implementing EU law in some acceding states,” said a spokesman for Günter Verheugen, the EU enlargement commissioner.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

Tag: Theory

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