A claim that making Luxembourgish an official EU language would cost €40 million per year has sparked debate over its feasibility and implications.
From the many requests we received, we initially decided to focus on subjects related to the Grand Duchy. One of the first questions concerned the Luxembourgish language and the European Parliament: does it really cost €40 million per year to have Luxembourgish translated?
“According to the Prime Minister and as published on RTL, introducing the Luxembourgish language in the European Parliament would cost €40 million per year. Is this statement just nonsense and a weak, cowardly excuse to give in to the communities, or how does such absurdity come about? Then every EU member state would have to pay this €40 million per year, which is absolutely unimaginable for certain countries. This would actually be a severe case of discrimination and an embarrassment for our country […]”
Intervention by Fernand Kartheiser sparks debate
A speech by ADR MEP Fernand Kartheiser in the European Parliament on 21 October (here) triggered significant debate over the status of the Luxembourgish language. While other Luxembourgish MPs responded the next day by calling it a “circus act” (here), the ADR MEP’s intervention was also a topic of discussion in the Luxembourgish programme Background am Gespréich among four Luxembourgish MEPs (here).
Translating our national language costs €40 million per year: Tilly Metz
During this discussion, Tilly Metz of the Green Party reiterated that translating a language at this level could cost over €40 million per year.
Tilly Metz: Lëtzebuergesch als offiziell EU-Sprooch kascht 40 Milliounen d’Joer
An der Emissioun Background am Gespréich vum 26. Oktober huet d’Tilly Metz hir Ausso nach eng Kéier widderholl.
Her office provided further clarification on this statement. As an example, they pointed to the Irish Gaelic language, which became an EU treaty language in 2007 and has been used as an official language in Brussels and Strasbourg since 2022 (here). The introduction of Irish as an official EU language costs the European Union over €40 million per year. The exact cost of introducing a new language was made public in December 2023, when the Spanish Presidency raised the question. The estimated cost for fully integrating any new language into the system was set at €44 million per year (here).
Costs are shared among all EU member states: Commissioner for Luxembourgish Language
This figure was also confirmed by the Commissioner for the Luxembourgish Language, Pierre Reding, who referred to an article by The Diplomat from October 2024 (here). According to this, translating Catalan, Basque, and Galician could cost European taxpayers around €132 million per year. The platform cited figures provided by the European Commission’s General Secretariat. When broken down per language, this again amounts to €44 million per language.
Reding further clarified that these costs would not be borne solely by Luxembourg but would be shared among all member states. In other words, every time a new language is introduced as an official EU language, Luxembourg also contributes a share of the cost. However, looking at the recent introduction of Irish, the cost does not stop at €44 million per year. The Irish Embassy in Luxembourg confirmed that additional costs are incurred by the Irish Republic. The training of translators and interpreters alone costs around €1.6 million per year, which is borne exclusively by Ireland, according to Reding.
What costs are involved?
© Photo by Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
For each official EU language, various conditions must be met, and different tasks arise. Translators and interpreters must be hired for the EU institutions, including training and certification for qualified personnel.
Additionally, all existing legal texts would need to be translated into Luxembourgish, as well as all meetings, debates, and written materials. National laws, official documents, and technical terminology would also need translation to comply with EU standards.
Institutions would also need to be expanded to standardise terminology and legally adapt the language to the system.
This highlights the significant manpower required to introduce a language as an official EU language. Just for Irish translation at the European Court of Justice in Kirchberg, 20 staff members are needed – excluding those working in Brussels and Strasbourg.
€40 million: Prime Minister Luc Frieden did not mention this figure
The State Ministry clarified that Luc Frieden never mentioned the €40 million figure. This was confirmed in a parliamentary response by the Prime Minister, together with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Culture, following a question raised by ADR MP Fred Keup (here).
The response (here) stated that “the government has no information regarding MEP Metz’s statements about the costs associated with recognising Luxembourgish as an EU language”. The reply, published in late 2024, looks ahead to the 2025 budget, which allocates €80,000 for the translation of official EU treaties. This amount was also confirmed by the Commissioner for the Luxembourgish Language. However, Reding stated that costs were actually lower at €54,000, as many text passages were repetitive and did not need to be retranslated.
The three responsible ministers also noted that “practical aspects should be taken into account, such as the administrative burden on all sides and the shortage of interpreters proficient in Luxembourgish”.
Fernand Kartheiser did not ask for Luxembourgish to become an official EU language
Fernand Kartheiser am Europaparlament
Den Europadeputéierte wollt jo eng Ried op Lëtzebuergesch halen.
When asked for clarification, Fernand Kartheiser stated that he never requested in Strasbourg that Luxembourgish should become an official EU language with full translation and acquisition rights. “I currently do not consider this realistic or necessary. I asked for Luxembourgish to be given more recognition so that speeches in the European Parliament’s plenary session could be delivered in Luxembourgish,” the ADR MEP told RTL.
He also proposed a pragmatic solution that would “cost almost nothing”. “Interpreters should receive a text in advance so that translation is possible. For follow-up questions or discussions, one could then use one of the official languages.” According to Fernand Kartheiser, this is about increasing the visibility of the Luxembourgish language. Since he is not asking for official language status, “the argument of cost does not apply” in his view.
On the topic of costs, Fernand Kartheiser stated that, to his knowledge, “translations into EU languages are paid from the general EU budget,” meaning that Luxembourg contributes to the cost of every language except “for its own national language”.
Should Luxembourgish become an official EU language?
Luxembourg’s national language is enshrined in the constitution. This raises the question of whether this creates an obligation for Luxembourgish to become an EU language. Pierre Reding, the Commissioner for the Luxembourgish Language, could not provide a direct answer but referred to a government council meeting set to address this issue in April this year.
This meeting of Luxembourg’s ministers will also discuss various language-related topics, including how AI can assist with translation and whether Luxembourgish should be an “EU treaty language” rather than an official EU language.
Conclusion: The statement did not come from the Prime Minister, but translation could cost over €40 million per year
Contrary to the claim submitted to us, this statement did not come from Luc Frieden, and no RTL article can be found in which the Prime Minister explicitly mentions this figure. The amount of “over €40 million” comes from Green MEP Tilly Metz.
Her office explained that this number was based on the cost of introducing Irish as an official EU language in 2022. This is also the most recent language to receive official EU status. The figure of €44 million per year was provided in response to an official query by the Spanish Presidency and confirmed through an estimate by the European Commission’s General Secretariat in relation to Catalan, Basque, and Galician. Notably, this figure refers to official EU languages, not treaty languages, which also represent a form of official recognition.
It remains unclear from these figures whether languages that have held official EU status for longer still incur the same costs.
Do you have any questions or suggestions for other topics? Get in touch with the RTL fact-checking editorial team at [email protected].
