Updated 4.50pm with OPM reply
It is "impossible" to provide Maltese interpreters for all European Parliament meetings involving Maltese MEPs, a spokesperson for the European Parliament (EP) has said.
"The number of Maltese interpreters available on the market remains limited, and therefore, it continues to be difficult to recruit qualified Maltese interpreters," an EP press service spokesperson said.
The European Parliament's inability to guarantee Maltese interpretation dates back decades, to when Malta first joined the EU in 2004.
Currently, the EU's institutions share a pool of 28 freelance Maltese interpreters. Three-quarters of those regularly work at the EP, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said three teams of Maltese interpreters are provided for the EP's plenary sittings, and two teams are made available for group and committee meetings.
Besides parliamentary sessions in Strasbourg and Brussels, MEPs also take part in parliamentary committee sessions and give press conferences at the European Parliament.
In all those cases, EU law states that instant translation should be provided for the 24 official languages across member states.
The parliament's own rules also note that all members have the right to speak in Parliament in the official language of their choice.
Rule 167 of the EP's Rules of Procedure states that speeches delivered in one of the official languages must be simultaneously interpreted in the other official languages.
However, rule 168 provides a "transitional arrangement" in which Maltese and Irish are exempt from this requirement.
PL MEPs slam derogation
On Tuesday, the European Parliament voted to extend that derogation until 2029.
The vote was held in secret, but Labour MEPs Alex Agius Saliba, Cyrus Engerer and Alfred Sant said they voted against extending the derogation. Josianne Cutajar also said she was against it but could not attend the plenary.
Agius Saliba said there are "massive problems" when it comes to Maltese interpreters and noted that "all Maltese interpreters are freelancers. Not even one is employed full-time by the EP".
"There are massive problems where the freelance interpreters are not being given enough hours of work," Agius Saliba said.
The derogation which exempts Maltese has been in use since Malta entered the EU in 20 years ago in 2004.
"How can it be that we haven't found enough Maltese interpreters," Agius Saliba said.
Engerer said he was also opposed to the derogation, and expressed disappointment that Roberta Metsola's power as EP president and head of the body that lays down the rules of Parliament- the Bureau - had not led to any change.
"I was convinced that since we have a Maltese woman leading the Bureau, we were going to have Maltese interpretation guaranteed in every meeting," Engerer said in a Facebook video message.
Metsola writes to Abela
A spokesperson for the EP president pointed Times of Malta to a letter she sent Prime Minister Robert Abela about the matter.
The letter, dated February 8, says the EP is ready to "enhance cooperation" between the European Parliament and the Maltese government to "find sustainable ways to increase the availability of Maltese persons trained in interpretation and translation".
"Only in this way can MEPs express themselves well during their mandate and can citizens hear and read the democratic process in their language," Metsola wrote.
Metsola described Malta's interpreter and translator shortage as "acute", adding that no Maltese interpreter had been engaged since 2015.
This is despite a cooperative programme between the EP and the University of Malta, she said.
Abela never acknowledged or replied to the letter, the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson from Abela's office told Times of Malta that Metsola was trying to shift a European Parliament obligation onto Maltese authorities.
The main problem was that EU institutions, including the European parliament, were offering Maltese interpreters poor work conditions, the spokesperson said.
"Interpreters are being engaged as freelancers by the European Parliament and not being allocated enough work by the European Parliament to make it feasible for them. This has in turn created difficulties for them to pursue a career at the European Parliament, despite their commitment to their work".
Attached files
Casa: We need interpreters, not theatrics
In comments to Times of Malta, PN MEP David Casa said that he has always been “a strong advocate for the Maltese language both now but also when I myself formed part of the Parliament’s Bureau”.
“That there aren’t enough Maltese interpreters to ensure the availability of interpretation at every meeting is regrettable,” he said.
“But increasing the amount of Maltese interpreters will not be achieved with the theatrical performance we saw from Maltese colleagues in the plenary this session,” Casa said.
Instead, training in interpretation should be incentivised and supported, he said.
“It is toward his own government that Alex Agius Saliba should have focused his efforts and directed his outrage. Instead, all we got was more of the infantile and disingenuous drivel to which we have become accustomed,” Casa said.