Equivalence and discrepancies between different versions of the EU Constitution

The purpose of this paper is to provide a workable framework for a contrastive analysis of linguistically different versions of the European Constitution, offering means for investigating the nature and value of the equivalence and differences between them. This proposal becomes particularly crucial in consideration of the problematic dynamic between, on the one hand, the European multilingual language policy and, on the other, the non-coincidence between linguistic systems. This tension has given rise to a debate between those who see multilingualism as a problem or a concrete obstacle to a common EU system of law (Braselmann 2002, Baron 2003) and those who are more positive about such a possibility (Kjaer 2004, Engberg 2004a, 2004b). This study aims to propose linguistic and pragmatic tools with which it will be possible to define levels of equivalence (Koller 1979, 1995), and to qualify and quantify differences, highlighting possible trends among them, so as to provide meaningful data and sound bases for a circumstantiated and unprejudiced discussion of the possibility of a felicitous multilingual translation of the European Constitution.