scholarly journals Getting organized to beat Babel in multilingual service encounters: The European Network for Public Service Interpreting and Translation (ENPSIT)

Author(s):  
Pascal Rillof ◽  
Lieven Buysse

People are on the move, coming in from beyond the borders of the European Union and circulating within it. Our major cities in particular are rapidly becoming “super-diverse” communities with many different (cultural) minorities. Many immigrant groups are, at least in the initial phase of their residence in a new community, often unable to communicate effectively in the official language. This poses important challenges for public service providers, who ought to be able to ensure equal access to their services to anyone who requires them. Yet, not all public service providers in Europe are prepared or equipped to operate in such a multilingual environment, and in many countries both comprehensive policies and structural funding are still lacking. As a result, public service interpreting and translation are available and made use of very unevenly. Following earlier initiatives to put public service interpreting and translation (PSIT) on the agendas of the European Commission and EU member states, such as the report drawn up by the European Language Council’s Special Interest Group on Translation and Interpreting for Public Services (SIGTIPS) in 2011, more recently the European Network for Public Service Interpreting and Translation (ENPSIT) was founded. Its main aims are to have the right to high-quality language assistance in service contexts officially recognized, and to see the development of (harmonized) public service interpreter and translator training, assessment and accreditation across the EU. This paper sketches (i) the societal framework within which PSIT provision is organized, (ii) how ENPSIT wishes to deploy strategies to influence European and national policy-making as well as foster excellent PSIT training and quality assurance, and (iii) how the fight for optimal communication in public services is not, nor should be, restricted to improving PSIT.

Author(s):  
Efri Novianto

It is the right of every citizen to get good and quality public services. Community satisfaction is an indicator of the success of these public service providers, therefore public service providers should be directed to increasing community satisfaction. This study uses a survey approach. Respondents were 120 people selected by accidental techniques and spread in 6 sub-districts. Based on the results of the study, the average level of compliance of the service units (districts) in Kutai Kartanegara District against the Law on Public Services was only 69.83 (yellow zone) with the medium compliance category. While the level of community satisfaction is -0.43 or less satisfied with the services provided. However, the average IKM is 87.71 with an A title or very good.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-229
Author(s):  
Andrzej Marian Świątkowski

In all EU Member States the status of people employed on job platforms is not fully legally regulated. It is necessary to consider the sources of the contemporary phenomenon of electronic employment, which is not amenable to legal regulation in the Union constituting an “area of freedom, security and justice with respect for fundamental rights” (Art. 67 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). The right to work in decent conditions, with adequate remuneration, belongs to this category of rights. In the discussion on employment platforms state authorities are more inclined to consider issues related to new technologies, processes and changes caused by the development and application of modern digital technologies (digitization) in almost all areas. The headquarters of trade unions mainly discuss the legal position of employees and the role of employment platforms in employment relations in the post-industrial era. Entrepreneurs and their organizations, including private institutions and employment platforms, are interested in equal treatment by national legislators in local labour markets. They are afraid of the breach of the balance favorable to their own economic interests, caused by the public interest in the possibility of using employment in atypical forms of employment. Services consisting in employment provided under employment platforms are incomparably cheaper than identical work performed by employees employed under employment contracts.


Author(s):  
Harius Eko saputra

Almost every day, in various mass media, especially in newspapers, it is found that there are so many complaints and unsatisfactory opinions from the community, as the customer, towards the current implementation of public service. These complaints and unsatisfactory opinions can describe how bad the quality of the current public service is, which is benefited by the community. It may be the right time for the community to be treated as citizens, who will have rights and give priority to their rights for being served afterwards. They are not anymore being considered as clients who previously have no any choice in choosing and in determining what kind of service that they really want to. There are so many results from research, seminar and writings that are conducted by experts in which their works talk about the implementation of a good and qualified public service. Currently, however, the qualified public service has not yet implemented as should have been. The implementation of public service still acts as however it please to be and only emphasize on its own interest without considering the consumer’s importance as the party that should really be served as well as possible. For this reason, a research, which is done in Service Integrated Unit of the Jember Regency, tries to find out any factors affecting quality of the public services. The main core of the public service implementation is the quality of norm of the service executor. The matter that should be realized is that the executor is the person who should serve for the community, and the community is the one who should be served as well as possible.Keywords: Implementation of public service, legislatif


Author(s):  
Piotr Kolczynski

This paper analyzes the current EU space strategy and confronts it with existing global challenges in the space sector. The ultimate aim of this research is to recommend a well-adjusted space policy for the European Commission to ensure effective and sustainable exploration and use of outer space for the benefit of all EU member-states. In order to draft the most efficient space policy, the uniqueness of Europe’s space sector is studied. This paper argues that the EU space policy has to focus on guaranteeing European autonomy in access and use of outer space. The author extensively analyzes the challenges and opportunities related to dynamic development of private space sector’s activities. Emphasis is made on the significance of symbiotic cooperation between the public institutions and private companies regarding mutual benefits. The paper concludes that it is the right time for the European Union to build a bold and prospective space policy.


Author(s):  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Jana Soukopova ◽  
Beata Mikusova Merickova

This chapter discusses the issue of efficiency of the different modes of the provision of local public services in two selected new EU member states – the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have a long common history and it is feasible to include both of them in the analysis. The first main part of the chapter analyses the history, transformation and the current local public delivery arrangements in the Czech Republic and Slovakia with the focus on the efficiency of the different modes of production. The final part tries to explain the main purposes behind the fact that externalisation does not deliver visible improvements.


2019 ◽  
pp. 16-51
Author(s):  
Anniek de Ruijter

This book looks at the impact of the expanding power of the EU in terms of fundamental rights and values. The current chapter lays down the framework for this analysis. Law did not always have a central role to play in the context of medicine and health. The role of law grew after the Second Word War and the Nuremberg Doctors Trials (1947), in which preventing the repetition of atrocities that were committed in the name of medicine became a guidepost for future law regarding patients’ rights and bioethics. In the period after the War, across the EU Member States, health law developed as a legal discipline in which a balance was struck in medicine and public health between law, bioethics, and fundamental rights. The role of EU fundamental rights protections in the context of public health and health care developed in relation with the growth of multilevel governance and litigation (national, international, Council of Europe, and European Union). For the analysis here, this chapter develops an EU rights and values framework that goes beyond the strictly legal and allows for a ‘normative language’ that takes into consideration fundamental rights as an expression of important shared values in the context of the European Union. The perspective of EU fundamental rights and values can demonstrate possible tensions caused by EU health policy: implications in terms of fundamental rights can show how highly sensitive national policy issues may be affected by the Member States’ participation in EU policymaking activities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-66
Author(s):  
Saila Heinikoski

This article discusses how the right to free movement within the European Union is presented as a matter of obligation, a duty of the other EU member states, in the discourse of Romanian Presidents and Prime Ministers (2005–2015). An examination of speeches and other statements from these politicians illuminates Romanian political reactions during the period when Romania became an EU member state, and reflects perceptions of Europeanness and European agreements. These issues take on an additional contemporary significance in the context of the Brexit negotiations, and they also add to the broader debate on whether EU norms and obligations are seen as being both just and equally applied. By analysing different types of argumentative topoi, I examine the deontological (obligation-based) argumentation employed in the free movement context. Furthermore, I examine to what extent these arguments are invoked in support of the right to free movement and who this right applies to. I argue that for Romanian politicians, deontological free movement arguments are connected to other states’ compliance with European treaties and to demands for equal application of European rules without discrimination, or the delegation of responsibility to others. This manifested itself most frequently in the calls for the EU and its member states to do their duty by treating Romanians equally to other EU citizens.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-212
Author(s):  
Qiang Yi ◽  
Xiaohong Zhu ◽  
Xianghui Liu

In the Guidelines of the State Council General Office on Government Procurement of Services from the Private and Non-governmental Sectors, “public service provider for the government” is broadly defined; it is stated that npos, businesses, and industry organizations have equal opportunity to be public service providers. A comparison of local eligibility requirements on npos serving as public service providers shows that the eligibility requirements focus on such aspects as service provider qualifications, time of establishment, organizational management, human resources, financial management, professional qualifications, annual inspection, evaluation, and honors. On the whole, the requirements are not demanding; the quality of public services is also secured through institutional design and innovation. The lax eligibility requirements imposed by local governments on npos as public service providers indicate that the social governance system will feature diversity, and reflect the government’s intention to support and develop npos. However, there are also some problems in local policies, such as 1) too much is at the discretion of the government; 2) the eligibility requirements are not good for the development of grassroots organizations; 3) no standards have been defined on eligibility for public service provider; and 4) related laws and regulations lack authority. Therefore, it is necessary to make government procurement of public services law-based and provide continued theoretical and institutional support for the implementation of the most authoritative policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-267
Author(s):  
Monika Zalnieriute

In Google LLC v. Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU or Court) held that the EU law only requires valid “right to be forgotten” de-referencing requests to be carried out by a search engine operator on search engine versions accessible in EU member states, as opposed to all versions of its search engine worldwide. While the ruling has been perceived as a “win” for Google and other interveners, such as Microsoft and the Wikimedia Foundation, who argued against worldwide de-referencing, the Court also made clear that that while the EU law does not currently require worldwide de-referencing, “it also does not prohibit such a practice” (para. 72). As a result, the CJEU found that an order by a national supervisory or judicial authority of an EU member state requiring worldwide de-referencing in accordance with its own national data protection laws would not be inconsistent with EU law where the data subject's right to privacy is adequately balanced against the right to freedom of information. By leaving the door to extraterritorial de-referencing wide open, the CJEU continues to pursue its post-Snowden hard-line stance on data privacy in a manner that is likely to transform the data privacy landscape.


2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50
Author(s):  
Anna Doliwa-Klepacka

Abstract The principle of multilingualism in the legal system of the European Union is one of the key elements that guarantees, among others, the right of access to EU legislation. It is particularly important not only in the sphere of the direct application of the EU law, but also in the sphere of access to information during the lawmaking procedures at the EU institutions. A special case is, however, a stage of preparing a draft legislative proposal by the European Commission. The EU member states agree to limit the use of official language version to the working documents for “working” languages of the Commission, i.e. English, French and German. In practice, English and French are the most widely used languages for the working arrangements in the preparation of the draft legislation, mainly due to costs of the necessary translations and an effectiveness of this stage. This article presents a course of the stage of the drafting a legislative proposal by the Commission and illustrates the scope of work partly exempted from the obligation to ensure the full application of the principle of equivalence of all the official languages of the European Union.


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