ZAGREB, CROATIA – Serbia’s aspirations for a speedy entry into the elite company of 28 EU countries is seriously being slowed down by the translation of European law texts, the so-called acquis communautaire, Serbia’s PolitikaOnline news site reported. 

By mid-2010, Serbia should translate 16,000 pages of text, while the number of pages could reach 200,000 by the time they eventually join. Serbia is also having a hard time securing funds necessary for such an enterprise that demands expert translators. The Serbian government’s European Integrations Office said that the EU has secured the funds for the translation of the first 16,000 pages and that the country’s budget has funds for another 800 pages to be translated. The job of translating European laws is one of the most difficult for all countries who are in the process of accessing the EU, and on average, the translation lasts for about five years.  The Office’s assistant director, Mila Cipovic-Gligoric, said that in the beginning, about 30 translators will be working on translating the documents, adding that the country has enough skilled translators for the job.

The European acquis communautaire is divided into three groups. The first is from the area of international law, that is, founding agreements member-states have signed, agreements with third countries signed by European communities with member countries or without them, as well as agreements signed between member countries and third countries. The second group is the legislation which represents the decisions of bodies of the European communities. The third group is the legislative practice of the European Court of Justice, but its translation is not a formal condition for accession. Serbia began with the translation back in 2004, while it was still in the state community with Montenegro. Since certain parts were being translated in various areas, it is impossible to say exactly how many pages were translated.

Croatia has not given Serbia its translations 

When a country that officially receives the confirmation of its candidacy begins with negotiations and adjusting toe EU laws, the usual thing is to request assistance from countries which are in a similar position or have just completed the process of accessing the EU. Serbian and Montenegrin Prime Ministers Bozidar Delic and Gordana Djurovic voiced their wish that Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro cooperate together on such a demanding project, since the languages are similar. But the Serbian government has said that the project was still on square one and that Croatia, from which concrete assistance was expected, has still not given Serbia its own translation of several hundreds of EU documents.

Montenegro also claimed that it had reached an agreement with Croatia by which Croatia would give

It has been stressed several times that Croatia is ready to share its experiences of drawing closer to the European Union with countries of the region and that the Euro-Atlantic perspective is the best guarantee of permanent peace and stability in the South-East of Europe.

Mario Dragun

The Croatian government said Croatia still wanted to help Serbia in that area because it believes that the European future of the countries in the region is the only guarantee of achieving a peaceful co-existence and stability to the South-East of Europe which has been full of conflicts in the past. In its negotiation process, Croatia has assumed the framework established in December 2004 by the European Council, with 35 chapters needing to be adjusted.

- There was never any mention of the possibility of Croatia handing over the documents, this is just something somebody said in the media. There are various forms of assistance and this is just one of them – said Mario Dragun, Croatian Foreign Ministry and European Integrations Ministry spokesman.

- The translation of the European Union’s acquis communautaire is just one of the possible forms of assistance to Serbia in its drawing closer to the European Union. It has been stressed several times that Croatia is ready to share its experiences of drawing closer to the European Union with countries of the region and that the Euro-Atlantic perspective is the best guarantee of permanent peace and stability in the South-East of Europe. In that sense, there has been no change in Croatia’s views – Dragun said.