Creating a united Europe is a multinational and a supranational project. The EU institutions employ many translators to translate documents into all languages of the members states. But debates happen not (only) in the EU institutions, but they are also ‘mediated’ through politicians’ statements, and subsequent reactions by other politicians and the media. Translation plays a role here, too.
One linguistic phenomenon in the political debates about the future shape of a united Europe is the important role which metaphors play. I have been interested in metaphors that are commonly used to speak about European integration (cf. Schaffner 1996). Apart from getting access to the conceptual structures underlying these met
aphors, I am also interested in the question of whether a metaphor incurs changes when transferred from one culture and language into another, and in the role which translating plays in this process. Metaphors are basic models for thought processes in human society. Cognitive linguistics (cf. Chilton & Lakoff 1995) describes meta
phors as means to understand a new, unknown domain (a target domain) in terms of another, a familiar one (source domain).The source domain is mapped onto the tar
get domain. From an interpersonal point of view, metaphors are used to establish mutual knowledge between the communicative partners. Especially in political dis
course, metaphor can be an important diplomatic device. It can ease interpersonal contact, because it leaves room for the negotiation of specific meanings. But on the other hand, the introduction of a specific metaphor into international political dis
course can also result in conflict, which will now be illustrated.
The case in point is the metaphor of the ‘Kerneuropa / core Europe’, introduced on 1 September 1994 in a document by the parliamentary group of the German Christian Democratic Union / Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), and largely set up by Wolfgang Scháuble (CDU parliamentary floor leader) and Karl Earners (in the following referred to as Scháublepaper). The motivation for producing this docu
ment was as follows: The CDU/CSU stated that the process of European integration had reached a critical point in its development, and that there would be a real danger that the EU would become just a loose federation. Therefore, the document argued for the formation of an inner group of closely integrated EU member states which would lead the way to further EU integration. This inner group is referred to in the German original as ein fester Kern.
I have looked at the German document, its English translation that was done by in-house translators in Germany, and I looked at the reaction of politicians, espe
cially by the UK government, and reactions of the media. The corpus comprises German and English texts from September 1992 till August 1996. The most relevant
Christina Scháffner
parts of the Scháuble paper are as follows (references to the ‘Kern / core’ metaphor have been indicated by italics):
(1) Den festenKernweiter festigen
Daher mul3 sich ... dér feste Kern von integrationsorientierten und koop-erationswilligen Lándern, ... weiter festigen. Zu ihm gehören z. Zt.
fünf bis sechs Lander. Dér Kern darf nicht abgeschlossen, mufi hingegen für jedes Mitglied offen sein,
Der feste Kern hat die Aufgabe, den zentrifugalen Kraften in der immer gröfier werdenden Union ein starkes Zentrum entgegenzustellen ...
Zu dicsem Zweck müssen sich die Lander des festen Kerns sich nicht nur selbstverstándlich an alien Politikbereichen beteiligen,... Die Zusammen- arbeit der Kernlander miifite sich vor allém auf die neuen Politikfelder er- strecken,...
Auch im Wahrungsbereich gibt es bereits den kráftigen Ansatz eines fes ten Kerns der Fünf.... Dies ist deswegen so bedeutend, weil die Wahrungs- union der harte Kern der Politischen Union ist... Line Wáhrungsunion ...
wird es ... voraussichtlich zunáchst nur in einem kleineren Kreis geben ...
wenn der feste Kern der Fünf dies systematisch ... vorbereitet.... Die Kern-europa-Gruppé,... Die Bildung einer Kerngruppe ist kein Ziel an sich, ... Den Kern des festen Kerns bilden Deutschland und Frankreich. Sie waren von Beginn des europáischen Einigungsprozesses an sein Motor... .
Angesichts der Bedeutung der Wáhrungsunion... sollten - neben den Vorbereitungen im Kreis des harten Kerns....
Exkurs
Die Vorschláge zur Herausbildung eines Kerneuropa ... bedeuten nicht, dafi die Hoffnung aufgegeben wird, dafi Grofibritannien seine Rolle „im HerzenEuropas “ und damit in seinem Kern übernimmt.
(CDU/CSU Fraktion, Überlegungen zur Europáischen Politik, 1 September 1994)
The (shortened) English version of this document, as distributed by the CDU/
CSU, reads as follows:
(2) Further strengthening the EU’s hard core
... that existing hard core of countries oriented to greater integration and closer cooperation must be further strengthened. At present, the core comprises five or six countries. This core must not be closed to other mem
ber states;...
The task of the hard core is, by giving the Union a strong centre, to counteract the centrifugal forces...
... the countries of the hard core... Cooperation among the core coun tries...
In the monetary field, too, there are strong signs that a hard core of five countries is emerging. ... monetary union is the cornerstone of political union ... if the hard core offive ... The core countries must... The formation of a core group of countries is not an end in itself... France and Germany form the core of the hard core. ... they were the driving force behind European unification.
Section 1. Preparations for European Integration Excursus
To propose the formation of a hard core in Europe ... does not, however, imply the abandoning of hopes that Great Britain will assume its role "in the heart of Europe” and thus in its core.
The idea of a ‘core Europe’ was not totally new in September 1994, it had been used before, cf. example 3:
(3) While most papers pay lip-service to the belief that Britain must be kept within any European process, there is more talk of the "core-states” of Germany, France and the Netherlands pushing ahead alone. {The Times, 16 October 1992)
What is new in the Schauble paper, is the use of the ‘core’ metaphor in the colloca
tion fester Kern. In the total of fourteen typed pages of the statement, fest appears once on its own as an adjective and seven times as part of ein fester Kern. In all cases the meaning revolves around notions of firmness and making firm, solid. This concept of a firm centre for the European Union is flanked by notions of stability, strength, and security. The main ideas concerning ‘fester Kern’ in the Schauble paper can be summarised as follows:
• a core exists, it is made up of 5-6 countries
• the core shall be open to other countries that are willing to work actively towards the common objectives
• the core countries are oriented to greater integration and closer cooperation in all areas and fields of EU policies
• the task of the core is, by giving the Union a strong centre, to counteract the centrifugal forces
‘Fester Kern’ is (to be) interpreted in a positive way in German. It suggests solid
ity, sincerity, even wholesomeness. An English metaphor which conveys the image of life force and being at the centre, is the metaphor of the ‘heart’. It was John Major’s favourite term for expressing to his European colleagues his desire to contribute inti
mately to the European idea, to be with them ‘at the heart of Europe’ - a metaphor which had been taken up in the Schauble paper. However, the German proposal of a core Europe was received in a negative light by the British government and the media immediately after the paper was published. The reactions can be summarised as follows:
• the hard core moves forward quickly towards integration and leaves Britain (and other countries) on the sideline
• the core is exclusive and an elite grouping
• the core imposes decisions and policies and does not allow free choice as to par
ticipation in areas and fields of EU policies
Examples (4)-(7) illustrate the critical reception in the UK. It is usually the English phrase hard core which is found in these quotations, although strong core had been used initially as well. The Guardian (on 7 September 1994) quoted pas
Christina Scháffner
sages from the document, using the translation distributed by the CDU. The head
line was: A strong core to holdthe uniontogether.
(4) Germany’s ruling party yesterday tried to revive Bonn’s flagging presi
dency of the European Union with a strategic programme aimed at creating a
“hard core” of European states that would move forward quickly towards integration and leave Britain effectively on the sideline. (The Times, 2 Septem
ber 1994)
(5) But the CDU proposal took the logic to an extreme by calling for a hard core of five member states - Germany, France and the Benelux countries - to press ahead with rapid integration, leaving the rest to catch up as best they can. ... The CDU plan would divide the community into first-class and second-class members, destroying any claim that Britain remained at the heart of Europe, ... (The Guardian, 7 September 1994)
(6) A political storm over Christian Democrat proposals for a “hard-core” Europe continued ... Scháuble ...] said Europe would not progress if “the slowest ship” determined the speed of the convoy. That is why a strong core of European states, especially France and Germany, must be the powerful engine that pulls the others along. (The Guardian, 7 September 1994)
(7) John Major warned his European partners last night that French and German proposals for an elite grouping within the European Union were a recipe for disaster. ... “I recoil from ideas for a Union in which some would be more equal than others. There is not, and should never be, an eclusive hard core either of countries or of policies. ... “I see a real danger in talk of a
“hard core”, inner and outer circles, a two-tier Europe,” ... (The Times, 8 September 1994)
Once having been introduced, the metaphor of the ‘core’ was extended and it developed almost a life of its own. New entailments are reflected in the texts that are based on the polysemy of the German word Kern: in (8) the meaning of ‘Kern’ in physics is elaborated, i.e. the nucleus of an atom, linked to nuclear fission:
(8)
Spiegel: Major pládiert nicht fur einen Kern in Európa, sondern fur unter- schiedliche Geschwindigkeiten mehrerer Gruppén.
Genscher: Das beweist ja die Berechtigung meiner Vorbehalte. Eine von Deutschland ausgelöste Kern-Europa-Diskussion verselbstándigt sich, sie fiihrt zu einer Fragmentierung der Gemeinschaft...
Genscher: ... Auf jeden Fall werden die zentrifugalen Krafte gestárkt. Die Unterscheidung innerhalb der Europáischen Union zwischen Kernstaaten und Restgemeinschaft fiihrt zur Kernspaltung. (Der Spiegel, 12 September 1994 - Interview with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hans-Dietrich Genscher)
The main sense of ‘Kern / core’ in the Scháuble paper is as a ‘centre’, as the cen
tral part of the EU. This is reflected in the collocations central core, inner core, core and periphery. This sense is also obvious in example (9), where we see a lin
Section 1. Preparations for European Integration
guistically interesting, albeit not necessarily logical, development: inner cores and outer cores:
(9) It is an obsession with itself, its deepening, its ever-closer union, its inner cores and outer cores: in other words, a failure of imagination. (TheEcono
mist, 10 December 1994)
Example (10) shows a further elaboration of the metaphor, here the sense of the pips or seeds in the core of some fruit is evoked:
(10) Der “Kern Europas ist die Wáhrungsunion”, ... Die im Vertrag von Maastricht vereinbarten Eintrittsbedingungen würden derzeit allerdings nur Deutschland und Luxemburg erfüllen - ein kleiner Kern fur ein grofies Gehause. (Der Spiegel, 27 March 1995 - Interview with Scháuble)
Example (11) shows that the controversial reception of the ‘core’ idea has been consciously reflected upon:
(11) Though Mr Scháuble and his friends believe the “hard core” concept remains implicit in their new proposals, it was just as well - this time - that their document omitted to mention it. (The Economist, 17 June 1995)
Another sense, i.e. ‘core’ as a magnet is used in examples (12) and (13), with entailments as to its attracting and repelling effects:
(12) France and Germany are to form the “magnetic core” of a uniting Europe. ... Anyone who plays with magnets knows that they can have two effects: one way they attract, the other way they repel. There is now a seri
ous danger of the ivould-be magnetic core exerting repulsion. ... (The Times, 9 May 1995 - article by Timothy Garton Ash)
(13) Wir habén immer das Bild des Magnetfelds gebraucht: Der Kern zieht an und stöfit nicht ab. Die sechs, die mit der europáischen Einigung anfin- gen, habén die anderen nicht abgestojien, sondern sie angezogen. ... (Der Spiegel, 12 February 1996 - Interview with Scháuble)
What becomes obvious from these examples is that the negative reception is not based on the base metaphor ‘core’ as such, but rather on the entailments of ‘hard core’. The choice of hard core in the translation that was done by the translators in Bonn, significantly shifted the tone of the document, and allowed for a subtle recast
ing of this key metaphor as reported in British newspapers. Both in the reactions of the British government, and in many reactions by the media, the concept of stabiliz
ing a threateningly unstable EU, an essential part of the original German text, was not referrred to, or even discredited. The choice of hard core alters the tone of the central passage in the Scháublepaper. The inescapable connotations of this term in English are hard core pornography, or hard core terrorism. ‘Hard core’ is asso
ciated with people and things that are immoral and incorrigible (cf. Reeves 1996).
After some problems associated with ‘hard core’ had been realized by (German) politicians, they tried to clarify their point, cf. examples (14) and (15):
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(14) ... not a hard core, but a solid core ( Channel4 News, 23 May 1996, 7.25 p.m. - Interview with Karl Lamers)
(15) ... explore the angles of “variable geometry”, allowing some members to go faster than others towards common goals {the German concept of the
“hard core” has been quietly changed to the less exclusive “avant- garde”). {TheEconomist, 15 June 1996 - an article on the Intergovernmental
Conference)
This example shows that political concepts, when transferred across languages and cultures, can change their meaning because they are received in a culture with different historical experience. Moreover, this process can even be deliberately insti
gated, although this was not done in the case of‘core Europe’. But what we can see from this example is that carelessness or lack of knowledge on the part of the transla
tors, does not lie far from deliberate manipulation on the part of politicians or the media. In either case, the political perceptions of nations can be modified or directed, thus either promoting European integration or hindering it.
References
Chilton, P. & Lakoff, G. 1995. Foreign Policy by Metaphor. In: Scháffner, Ch., Wenden, A.
(eds), Language and Peace. Dartmouth: Aldershot. 37-59.
Musolff, A. & Scháffner, Ch. & Townson, M. (eds) 1996. Conceiving of Europe - Diversity in Unity. Dartmouth: Aldershot.
Reeves, N. 1996. Den festen Kern festigen: Towards a Functional Taxonomy ofTransnational Political Discourse. In: Musolff et al. 161-169.
Scháffner, Ch. 1996. Building a European House? Or at Two Speeds into a Dead End?
Metaphors in the Debate on the United Europe. In: Musolff et al. 31-59.