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 ...
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
More from Foreign Policy

What Putin Got Right
The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukraine—but not everything.

Russia Has Already Lost in the Long Run
Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future.

China’s Belt and Road to Nowhere
Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy is a “shadow of its former self.”

The U.S. Overreacted to the Chinese Spy Balloon. That Scares Me.
So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible.