EU faces spelling row over 'euro'

By Oana Lungescu
BBC correspondent in Brussels

Greece uses its own alphabet on its euro coins

A spelling row threatens to overshadow the signing of the first European constitution in Rome later this month.

The EU agreed in the 1990s that the single currency, the euro, should be spelt the same way everywhere.

But two new EU members who joined in May, Latvia and Hungary, have said they plan to stick to their own spelling.

Lithuania and Slovenia, two other newcomers, have accepted a compromise to use their own spelling at home, but not in translations of EU documents.

EURO SPELLINGS evro - in Slovenian euras - in Lithuanian eiro - in Latvian euró- in Hungarian

Only Greece - which has its own alphabet - was exempt from the 1990s agreement on spellings.

The euro may be the single currency, but its spelling differs widely across the enlarged Europe.

In Slovenian, it is "evro", in Lithuanian, "euras," in Latvian, "eiro," - while in Hungarian it is "euró".

Calls for compromise

The issue was never raised during lengthy membership talks with the former communist countries.

It only emerged in the last few weeks, as translators prepared the final text of the constitution - proving that for small countries with a history of foreign domination, language remains a sensitive political issue that could fuel euroscepticism.

"We're not going to spoil the constitution because of an accent, but we don't like other people telling us how to spell things in our own language," a Hungarian diplomat told the BBC.

"In the Soviet Union, our language was endangered, so any changes are regarded with suspicion, " a Latvian diplomat added.

On 29 October, Latvia and Hungary will be among the 25 nations signing the European constitution in Rome, but they want to add a separate declaration to safeguard their own spelling of the word "euro".

A compromise solution, they argue, can be found later. After all, neither country is expected to adopt the euro as their currency before the end of the decade.