Working on clarity
at the European Commission
Clarity breakfast
Malachy Hargadon
8 October 2015
European Commission Representation in the UK
Unclear writing in the EU
Hurry Jo
SESAR JU
Fubar
Unclear writing in the EU
• Council Resolution of 8 June 1993 on the
quality of drafting of Community
legislation
• 1. the wording of the act should be clear,
simple, concise and unambiguous;
unnecessary abbreviations, 'Community
jargon' and excessively long sentences
should be avoided
A never-ending story
• 1997 - Fight the fog – DG Translation
• Editing service
• To improve the quality of Commission
documents and websites, making sure the
language is clear, correct and concise,
and hence more readable and
translatable.
A never-ending story
• White paper on a European
communication policy (2006)
• Parliament resolution:
Recommends that the Commission use clear and concise
language when communicating with the media and
citizens, and that it does so systematically in the official
languages of their Member State of origin or residence;
believes that EU jargon increases rather than closes the
gap between the EU institutions and citizens
Moving towards the clear writing
campaign
• DG Translation takes the initiative
• 2007 ad hoc group: Secretariat-General, Legal
Service, DG Communication, DG
Administration, DG Translation
• 2009 survey
What do we edit?
• Multiplier documents - impact
• Policy papers
• Documents for translation
• Documents for a wide readership
When we edit documents - the
specifics
•
Target audience – who is the reader? What do they want to know? Is the register
suitable?
•
Language – does the spelling, punctuation, grammar, style conform to good
English usage and Commission rules?
•
Clarity – clear writing principles to make the text easier to read
•
•
•
Consistency – terminology, headings, hyphens, capitals
•
Structure and flow – length, duplication/repetition
• --------------------------------Non-linguistic problems – references, names of bodies/people
(accents/diacritics), formatting
Clear writing campaign aims
o Campaign launched in 2010
o Encourage everyone in the European
Commission to write more clearly
o Shorter, simpler documents, less jargon
o Improve the impact of the message
o Help to improve the EU’s public image
o Contribute to better regulation
Campaign resources & activities
• 'How to write clearly' booklet in all official
languages
• Interactive website – Writers' toolbox, clear
writing tips, helpline
• Clear Writing Awards
• Online tutorial
• Training targeted to specific document types and online training
Who we train
• Authors of document
'packages' that will
come to us for editing
• Units/groups on request
• Interested staff
Training demand increasing
• 10 sessions in 2014
 13 in first half 2015
• Packages: enlargement,
small business act
• Second half 2015: European
Semester country report
teams
How we give training
•
•
•
•
By unit
Max 20 participants
Half-day
Tailored to unit's/group's
specific needs and
weaknesses
• Shorter sessions upon request
• Training also provided by HR
Training content
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
'10 top tips' of How to write clearly
Examples from Claire's Clear Writing Tips
George Orwell's rules for authors
Internal style guides
What to avoid!
Frequent oral and written exercises
Key issues arising from unit's/group's output
Solutions to these issues
Guidance document for teams drafting packages
The most common problems with
Commission texts
poor structure
abbreviations +
eurojargon
passive
verbs
long
nouns
not verbs
abstract
language
Example: Shorter sentences are
clearer!
•
• Against this background, the Union and
its Member States should take action to
ensure that citizens have access to clean
•
water and that water abstraction
respects available renewable water
resource limits, by 2020, with a view to
•
maintaining, achieving or enhancing
good water status in accordance with
the Water Framework Directive,
•
including by improving water efficiency
through the use of market mechanisms
such as water pricing that reflects the
true value of water, as well as other
•
tools, such as education and awareness
raising. (84 words)
Against this background, the Union and its
Member States should take action to ensure
the public has access to clean water.
They should also ensure that, by 2020, water
abstraction respects limits on the renewable
water resources available.
The goal of such action is to maintain, achieve
or improve good water status in accordance
with the Water Framework Directive.
This should be done by improving the
efficiency of water use by employing market
mechanisms, such as pricing that reflects the
true value of water.
Other tools, such as education and awarenessraising, should also be used.
Example: Some tidying up…
• In the reporting period, there •
have been 17 (compared to 8
last year) first instance
convictions for organised crimes,
including 12 for drugs
•
trafficking, 4 for smuggling of
cigarettes, 1 for facilitating
irregular migration. In 5 of the
drugs case, perpetrators were •
also convicted for money
laundering. 8 people have been
convicted on appeal. Nine
•
persons were acquitted after
standing trial on organised crime
cases.
In the reporting period, there were
17 first-instance convictions for
organised crime(s), against 8 the
previous year.
Twelve of the convictions were for
drugs trafficking, 4 for cigarette
smuggling and 1 for aiding illegal
migration.
In 5 of the drugs cases, the
perpetrators were also convicted
of money laundering.
Eight people were convicted on
appeal. Nine were acquitted after
standing trial on organised crime
charges.
Better Regulation (May 2015)
• Commission calls on European
Parliament and the Council to:
• Commit to better legal drafting so that
EU laws should be ‘correct,
comprehensible, clear, and consistent —
so that everyone understands their
rights and obligations easily and with
certainty’.