Skopje, 27 July 2022 (MIA) – Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj on Wednesday signed a Framework Agreement for the translation of European legislation into Macedonian language with seven economic operators. “One of the key features of the European Union has always been its multilingualism and we, with today's signing of this Framework Agreement, are proving our commitment to contribute to the successful publication of EU acquis in the Macedonian language in the Official Journal of the European Union,” the Deputy PM said in the address on the occasion of the signing of the framework agreement. He emphasized that the process of translating European legislation into Macedonian language is going on without interruption, because even after the opening of negotiations with the Union and the start of the screening process, the country must simultaneously work on harmonizing national legislation with EU law, the Secretariat for European Affairs said. “The success of the screening and its duration largely depends on aligment, i.e. the process of taking over and applying the acquis,” Marichikj said, pointing out that this condition for membership is identical for all candidate countries, and derives from the EU's legal system, which determines that all official languages of the member states are also official languages of the Union and that all language versions of legal acts are original and equivalent. Marichikj stressed that a good and quality translation means the correct transposition and implementation of the legislation of the European Union, and at the same time the Macedonian language will enjoy the status of an equal and official language of the Union when our country becomes a full-fledged member. Last year, a total of 17,322 pages were translated, linguistically revised and proofread by the internal resources available to the Secretariat for European Affairs, together with hired outsiders, which is an indication of a success story, which must and should continue. This year, the Secretariat concluded a Framework Agreement with seven economic operators for the translation of European legislation, which have a total of 110 translators and 35 proofreaders. According to this Framework Agreement, a translation from English and French into Macedonian will be carried out, and the same texts will be linguistically revised and proofread. Furthermore, the packages are sent to the Secretariat and the department for the preparation of the national version of EU laws performs internal control of the delivered materials. This year, a total of MKD 20,000,000 including VAT has been allocated for aligment with the European legal framework, and translation, language revision and proofreading of over 15,000 pages is expected. The EU acquis is an instrument for successful integration, but its adoption is a condition and not subject to negotiation with the Union. Hence, the translation of EU laws is our responsibility, which must be carried out with the highest quality and be carried out continuously. The Macedonian language will enjoy the status of an equal and official language of the Union when our country becomes its full member. The translation of the legal acts of the EU must correspond to the standards of the Macedonian language, and still reflect the spirit of the Euro-jargon, which will ensure the enrichment, but also the protection of the language itself, and this requires intensive work, especially in the coming years. dk/ba/