(Development project for point 7 of the Interinstitutional
style guide
Rev. 23 / 1.2.2020)
Rev. 23: United Kingdom (withdrawal from the EU) |
1. COUNTRIES
Names, codes and protocol order
2. LANGUAGES
Names, codes and listing order of language versions (multilingual texts)
Order of languages in text (unilingual texts)
3. CURRENCIES
The names of the Member States of the European Union must always be written and abbreviated according to the following rules. | |
— |
The two-letter ISO code should be used (ISO 3166 alpha-2), except for Greece, for which the abbreviation EL is recommended. |
— | The order of protocol for the Member
States is alphabetical, based on the original written form of
the short name of each country. |
Short name (source language) |
Short name (English) |
Official name | Code (1) | Former abbreviation (1) |
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Belgique/België | Belgium | Kingdom of Belgium | BE | B | ||||||
България (*) | Bulgaria | Republic of Bulgaria | BG | — | ||||||
Česko | Czechia | Czech Republic | CZ | — | ||||||
Danmark | Denmark | Kingdom of Denmark | DK | DK | ||||||
Deutschland | Germany | Federal Republic of Germany | DE | D | ||||||
Eesti | Estonia | Republic of Estonia | EE | — | ||||||
Éire/Ireland | Ireland | Ireland | IE | IRL | ||||||
Ελλάδα (*) | Greece | Hellenic Republic | EL | EL | ||||||
España | Spain | Kingdom of Spain | ES | E | ||||||
France | France | French Republic | FR | F | ||||||
Hrvatska | Croatia | Republic of Croatia | HR | — | ||||||
Italia | Italy | Italian Republic | IT | I | ||||||
Κύπρος (*) | Cyprus | Republic of Cyprus | CY | — | ||||||
Latvija | Latvia | Republic of Latvia | LV | — | ||||||
Lietuva | Lithuania | Republic of Lithuania | LT | — | ||||||
Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Grand Duchy of Luxembourg | LU | L | ||||||
Magyarország | Hungary | Hungary | HU | — | ||||||
Malta | Malta | Republic of Malta | MT | — | ||||||
Nederland | Netherlands | Kingdom of the Netherlands | NL | NL | ||||||
Österreich | Austria | Republic of Austria | AT | A | ||||||
Polska | Poland | Republic of Poland | PL | — | ||||||
Portugal | Portugal | Portuguese Republic | PT | P | ||||||
România | Romania | Romania | RO | — | ||||||
Slovenija | Slovenia | Republic of Slovenia | SI | — | ||||||
Slovensko | Slovakia | Slovak Republic | SK | — | ||||||
Suomi/Finland | Finland | Republic of Finland | FI | FIN | ||||||
Sverige | Sweden | Kingdom of Sweden | SE | S | ||||||
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Candidate countries
Short name (source language) |
Short name (English) |
Official name | Code | ||||||
Candidate countries |
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Crna Gora/Црна Гора | Montenegro | Montenegro | ME | ||||||
Северна Македонија (*) | North Macedonia (2) | Republic of North Macedonia (2) | MK | ||||||
Shqipëria | Albania | Republic of Albania | AL | ||||||
Сpбија (*) | Serbia | Republic of Serbia | RS | ||||||
Türkiye | Turkey | Republic of Turkey | TR | ||||||
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The language versions should appear in alphabetical order of their names written in their original scripts (the codes used are the ISO codes 639-1 in force, alpha-2 code – see also the ISO website).
Name (source language) (1) |
English name |
Code (2) | ||||||||||
български (*) | Bulgarian | bg | ||||||||||
español (3) | Spanish | es | ||||||||||
čeština | Czech | cs | ||||||||||
dansk | Danish | da | ||||||||||
Deutsch | German | de | ||||||||||
eesti keel | Estonian | et | ||||||||||
ελληνικά (*) | Greek | el | ||||||||||
English | English | en | ||||||||||
français | French | fr | ||||||||||
Gaeilge | Irish (4) | ga | ||||||||||
hrvatski | Croatian | hr | ||||||||||
italiano | Italian | it | ||||||||||
latviešu valoda | Latvian | lv | ||||||||||
lietuvių kalba | Lithuanian | lt | ||||||||||
magyar | Hungarian | hu | ||||||||||
Malti | Maltese | mt | ||||||||||
Nederlands | Dutch | nl | ||||||||||
polski | Polish | pl | ||||||||||
português | Portuguese | pt | ||||||||||
română | Romanian | ro | ||||||||||
slovenčina (slovenský jazyk) | Slovak | sk | ||||||||||
slovenščina (slovenski jezik) | Slovenian | sl | ||||||||||
suomi | Finnish | fi | ||||||||||
svenska | Swedish | sv | ||||||||||
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Candidate countries
Name (source language) |
English name | ISO Code | ||||
crnogorski/црногорски | Montenegrin | cnr (1) | ||||
is | ||||||
македонски | Macedonian | mk | ||||
shqip | Albanian | sq | ||||
cрпски | Serbian | sr | ||||
türkçe | Turkish | tr | ||||
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Irish
Up to 31 December 2006, Irish was not included in the working languages of the Community’s institutions. Pursuant to an Agreement made in 1971 between Ireland and the Community, Irish was considered an official Community language, it being understood, however, that only primary legislation was drawn up in that language.
On 1 January 2007, Irish became a full EU official language, with a temporary derogation for a renewable period of five years (see Council Regulation (EC) No 920/2005 of 13 June 2005 (OJ L 156, 18.6.2005, p. 3)) stating that ‘the institutions of the European Union shall not be bound by the obligation to draft all acts in Irish and to publish them in that language in the Official Journal of the European Union’, except for regulations adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council. This derogation has been extended for a period of five years (until 31 December 2016) by Council Regulation (EU) No 1257/2010 (OJ L 343, 29.12.2010, p. 5). It was extended again by Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2015/2264 (OJ L 322, 8.12.2015, p. 1), but it is to be gradually reduced in scope and eventually brought to an end by 31 December 2021.
Maltese
A temporary derogation from the obligation to draft acts in Maltese and to publish them in the Official Journal of the European Union was adopted by the Council on 1 May 2004. This derogation was to be applied for a period of three years, extendable for a further one year, to all acts with the exception of regulations adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council (see Council Regulation (EC) No 930/2004 of 1 May 2004 (OJ L 169, 1.5.2004, p. 1)). The Council has decided to stop this derogation in 2007, after the first period of three years.
In the text, the order for listing languages will vary according to the linguistic version. In English-language publications, languages should be listed in English alphabetical order: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish.
When an agreement is also written in a non-Union language, the Union languages precede the aforementioned language for protocol reasons.
The enlargements have increased the number of languages to such an extent that it is no longer convenient to use separate menu tabs for each language version (‘language’ tabs, small flags, etc.) as they would take up too much space on screen.
It is recommended that a drop-down menu be used.
— | This drop-down menu contains the language names, presented in alphabetical order in their source language. |
— | The language name should be followed by the ISO code, in parentheses. |
This display allows for one menu for all language versions.
The menu drops down as shown below.
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UTF |
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When using abbreviations for currencies, use the current ISO codes 4217 (see the website of the registration authority).
Except for the euro, which appears first in any list, the currencies of the Member States should be presented in alphabetical order of their codes.
ISO code | Currency | |||
EUR (1) | euro | |||
BGN | lev (pl. leva) | |||
CZK | Czech koruna (pl. koruny) | |||
DKK | Danish krone (pl. kroner) | |||
HRK | kuna (inv.) | |||
HUF | forint (inv.) | |||
PLN | zloty (pl. zlotys) | |||
RON | Romanian leu (pl. lei) | |||
SEK | Swedish krona (pl. kronor) | |||
Candidate countries |
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ALL | Albania | lek | ||
EUR | Montenegro | euro | ||
MKD | North Macedonia | denar (pl. denars) | ||
RSD | Serbia | Serbian dinar | ||
TRY | Turkey | Turkish lira (inv.) | ||
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Last update: 28.1.2019