Interpreting services for multilingual meetings during the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU 2017

Interpretation during the highlevel meetings taking place in Malta during the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU will be provided by the European Commission’s DirectorateGeneral for Interpretation (DG Interpretation).

To this end, tomorrow, the Deputy Director-General of DG Interpretation, Carlos Alegria, will be in Malta to sign an Administrative Cooperation Agreement between DG Interpretation and the Maltese Presidency, at the Ministry of European Affairs and the Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto.

The agreement provides a framework for the provision of interpreting services and cooperation with meeting organisers. In this way, the Maltese Presidency will be availing itself of an interpreting service that is recognised worldwide for its excellence and professionalism.

Following the signing of the agreement, Mr Alegria will be visiting the plenary hall at the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta, which will be the main venue of the Maltese Presidency’s events.

Mr Alegria said: “The Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union will be a very special moment that will make Malta more known to all participants who will attend meetings here, as well as to all Europeans in general. We thank the Maltese authorities for this occasion that will enable the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Interpretation to be informed about the preparations undertaken by the Presidency for the high-level meetings to take place in Malta, and to settle the administrative agreement that will be the basis of our cooperation for the six months’ duration of Presidency, where everyone will be working full steam ahead. At the same time, we appreciate this great possibility to, once again, be involved with our partners at the University of Malta in their effort to train Maltese Interpreters, in which they have our full support “.

Mr Alegria will also be having a meeting at the University of Malta to discuss interpreter training in Malta. The Master in Interpreting Studies course run by the University of Malta is the only course offered by any academic institution worldwide that provides Maltese language interpreters for the EU Institutions.

At a visit to the European Asylum Support Office in Valletta, Mr Alegria will be discussing ways in which DG Interpretation and EASO can build on the already existing framework of cooperation