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Laughter about machine translation.
Last week, the European Commission launched the online platform Re-open EU, which is supposed to help travelers across the EU.
“The EU Reopening website, which we are launching today, will provide travelers with easily accessible information to help them plan their trips with confidence and be safe when they travel,” said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market.
Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, echoed it: “The EU’s reopening platform provides the latest and most important information to help us rediscover Europe safely.”
In fact, a wealth of information can be found at EU Reopening. Once the country has been selected, there are links to where to find information about the COVID-19 pandemic situation, what are the travel rules (national, transit), service conditions and health conditions. According to the Commission, the platform was developed from internal resources.
“The online platform was created by us, using the services and resources of the Commission. Therefore, there is no price,” said a Delfi Commission official.
The Brussels bubble focused on machine translation into the 24 official EU languages. After all, it looked like a letter from the “widow of an African banker” with a proposal to share the millionth legacy.
Some examples: “As a country house owner, you can bring your spouse, partner, fiancé, loved one, parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren, as well as members of your household” (Lithuanian translation). There were also more “fun” translations in different languages: “borders can travel to and from the EU”, “customers must wear their nose”, “wear masks when entering a car”, etc.
Finally, a man (the translation service of the European Commission) got involved in the translations and corrected the language of the “widow of an African banker”.
We do not accept responsibility for errors
So we are trying to travel with Re-open EU now (June 23), for example, to the favorite Lithuanian country of sunny Mediterranean beaches, Croatia. We start from Lithuania, as mentioned, you can find a lot of information (and even a link to talonai.lt). But the big problem is that the information was only updated on June 14. (There were no major changes during the week, but let’s say you don’t need to be quarantined for 14 days after arriving in Lithuania from Belgium.) The latest information on Poland is also only on June 14. In the case of the Czech Republic, the information was only updated on June 11. Interestingly, the platform reports that Germany and Austria recommend a contact tracking device (but about that later). Regarding “destination”, Croatia is hampered by the fact that the platform states that there is a mandatory quarantine in the country, which is not true.
“The data is collected through a questionnaire completed by the Member States through the Council’s Crisis Response Team (IPCR). The questionnaire is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the database from IPCR and can be updated when necessary, “said a Delfi Commission official. He also added that this works on a voluntary basis and that “the states themselves are responsible for providing data about them.”
Therefore, as you can see, the “voluntary principle” doesn’t work much. However, Re-open EU can be a great start for travel planning, where anyone can use the links provided there to the official websites of public authorities and verify the information again. As indicated in the description of the platform itself: “Although the Commission seeks to keep the information up-to-date, we do not accept any express or implicit responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the information provided on this page or for the individual decisions based on it” . The Commission accepts no responsibility if your journey does not continue as you read on the Re-open EU platform.
For this reason, it is doubtful whether the platform is very popular with EU citizens, as it will be easier to “google” all the nuances. Furthermore, since previous smart solutions in Brussels have not gained much popularity either. As early as May, the Commission launched the Green Lane Monitoring app for mobile phones, which was designed to raise awareness of the possibility of crossing the EU’s internal borders when countries took quarantine measures. It was downloaded by just over 2.5 thousand. consumers
Will gadgets work?
As for other smart solutions to fight coronavirus, one can recall the recommendations of Germany and Austria to use contact tracking apps for mobile phones. Germany launched the Corona-Warn app a week ago. Previously, France (Stop Covid) and Italy (Immuni) did.
They are all based on the principle of volunteering and Bluetooth technology, which captures when a phone appears near another phone that also has this application. If a person subsequently reports symptoms of coronavirus, the other telephone is notified so that the owner can isolate himself or seek medical assistance. A warning to the latter only occurs when the first person’s illness is confirmed by official doctors. Theoretically, this type of device works anonymously, data is collected on a temporary and decentralized basis, and a person’s location is not tracked.
Users themselves rate gadgets on the Google Play platform relatively positively. The French version was rated as the worst – 2.8 points, Germany – 3.8, Italy – 4.0. However, these gadgets have not yet gained much popularity. Suppose you download only over 500,000 from the same Google Play. French Stop Covid, over a million Italian Immuni and over 5 million German Corona-Warn app.
However, since they can also be downloaded from the Apple platform, these figures should be doubled (German and Italian official officials provide similar statistics). However, these are fun numbers because, according to experts, the devices really help fight coronavirus if used by 60%. population.
“Research shows that 60 percent. Population uses, then the app is fully operational. If only 20 percent.” We can get some data from it, “said Wojciech Wiewiórowski, the European Data Protection Supervisor. , to the European Parliament in May.
It is also unclear how they will exchange data with each other and use it as much as possible for travelers or temporary visitors. For example, of the three applications mentioned, only one version of the Lithuanian operator’s phone, the Italian version, could be downloaded, which also had to indicate its supposed location, the Italian region and city.
Last week, EU members, with the help of the Commission, agreed on a set of technical specifications to ensure the secure exchange of information between national contact location applications based on a decentralized structure. The Commission promises to introduce a gateway service, an interface that will allow efficient reception and transmission of relevant information from national contact location devices and servers. So maybe everything is out of sight?
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