Glossary: European Union & international affairs, industry, trade, development aid, employment, social affairs, education & training, transport
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cabotage = cabotage (transport operations by non-resident carriers) (EU) / cache-poussières = protective overalls / loi des cadenas = prior to 1961 restricted the opening of big stores in Belgium / calculateur d'interface = concentrator (EDP) / "cale" = (inland waterway) capacity / cale sèche = dry dock / eaux de cale = bilge water / calorie (info adapted from a letter to the Times): "The unit for measuring the quantity of heat is the gram-calorie, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water from 0 oC to 1oC, or 15oC to 16oC (or the mean calorie-100th part of the heat required to raise 1 gram of water from 0 oC to 100 oC). The unit used to express the energy value of foods is the great or kilogram calorie, equivalent to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1oC." / calorifuge = heat-retaining / cambouis = dirty oil (engineering) / capitaine = 1. Nile perch (capitaine d'eau douce, lates niloticus); 2. giant African threadfin (gros capitaine, capitaine de mer, polydactylus quadrifilis) / fonds de capitalisation = capital appreciation fund; cash accumulation fund (pensions, insurance) / régime en capitalisation see Kapitaldeckungsverfahren / capture = capture (of data; IT) / "caramel" fuel: ".. the recently developed "caramel" fuel, which is much less highly enriched (U-235) and is so processed that plutonium for bombs cannot be separated out from it" (source: The Economist 1981) / industrie carbochimique = coal chemicals industry (source: McGraw-Hill) / carburéacteur = jet propulsion fuel / délai de carence; Karenzzeit = 1. period before benefit starts (social sec.); 2. harvesting interval (agric.) = number of days that must elapse between application of a crop protection chemical and harvesting of the crop to allow any chemical residues to fall to the permitted level (ITI) / jour de carence; Karenztag = unpaid day of sick leave, day not qualifying for benefit, waiting day (social sec.) / installation de vente au carreau = land sales installations (coalm.) / carte à puce = smart card (IT) / carte rouge (B) = issued if car fails equivalent of MOT (ITI) / respirateur à cartouche, see respirateur à air pulsé / taxe en cascade = repetitive sales tax (G&C: from Kaskadensteuer); multi-stage tax (EU glossary) / cour de cassation = court of cassation (Italy, F, etc. source: Statesman's Yearbook) / protection cathodique = cathodic protection (electrode) / Etats de la Caucase et de l'Asie Centrale = the Caucasus and Central Asian Republics / cautionnement = indemnity bond; surety bond (banking) / Cellule de prospective = Forward Studies Unit (ECOM) / cellulose triacetate (fire resistant material) / centre-auto = car accessory store (comm.) / certificatie-eenheden = course credits; study credits (educ.) / chaînage = daisy chaining (of electrical, electronic components) / chalcophile elements (igneous rocks) / chalumeau = blow pipe (steelm.) / Chambre de commerce internationale see ICC (EN acronym used in FR too) / chapeau = bonnet (valve); chapeau (the introduction to a treaty or agreement that broadly sets out its principles, esp. in international law) / préparation du charbon = coal beneficiation; coal preparation / transformation du charbon = coal transformation / perte de charge = (pressure) head loss (fluid mechanics): "The drop in the sum of pressure head, velocity, head and potential head between 2 points along the path of a flowing fluid, due to causes such as fluid friction." / chargé de ... = with a ... filler (plastics) / chariot transbordeur = traverser (coalm.: railways) / atelier de fabrication de charpentes métalliques = structural steel fabrication plant / chaudronnage = sheet metalwork; boilerwork / chaudronné =fabricated (as opposed to welded) / chaux pulvurente = powdered lime / chemin de coulée = tapping launder (steelm.) / cheminée d'aspiration = fume offtake stack (steel converter) / chevêche commune; chevêchette = little owl (Athene noctua) / cheville ouvrière = key worker; workhorse; hard grafter / chutes de pied; chutes de queue = tail crops (steelm.) / chutes de tête = head crops (steelm. / circuit virtuel commuté = switched virtual circuit (EDP) / Cisjordanie = West Bank (modern M.E. politics); Cis-Jordan (hist.) / citadier = "urban steward" (person appointed to patrol streets and identify e.g. pavements needing repair, vandalism, etc.; seems to be a Belgian concept) / cité des métiers = (suggest) labour market information exchange / citerne à ballast séparé = segregated ballast tank (shipping) / civicisme fiscal = tax compliance / climatic zone (geog.) / cliqué-retiré = click-and-collect (shopping) / Clochemerle = BBC TV series based on book by Gabriel Chevallier, humour of life in small French village / clos et couvert = air- and watertightness (walls, roof and openings of a building) / cogénération = combined heat and power; CHP / coin fiscal = tax wedge / collecteur d'échappement = exhaust manifold (pollution monitoring) / collège = lower secondary school; middle school; junior high school / colmatage = clogging (pipes) / Comext = Eurostat database on external trade / commerce et les services = distributive trades and services (Eurostat) / prix de commercialisation = price / commission enterrement = cover-up committee (polit.) / Commission de recours = Appeals Board (WEU) / commission rogatoire = see ILOR; LOR; MLA / commission de surendettement = (suggested) debt assistance board; organised at département level, involving the prefect, banks, etc. (FR) / Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): proclaimed itself successor to the 15-republic USSR (wound up in December 1991). Initially comprised only 11 of the former republics , viz. Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine (founders), plus Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Georgia joined in December 1993. The three which did not join are the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The term "Newly Independent States" (NIS) is often used as a synonym of CIS, though this is not strictly accurate. The NIS are all the states formerly under Soviet domination, thus the CIS, Baltic states and the former communist bloc states in Eastern Europe. / communautarisme = 1. communitarianism (in strict context of social philosophy); 2. euphemistically, in the context of ethnicity, immigration etc., it means racism. especially anti-Semitism / compagnonnage = mentorship; improvership (employment) / comparaison détaillée des performances = "benchmarking" (EU transport) / compétences transversales = transferable core skills (numeracy, literacy, IT etc.) / complotiste = conspiracy theorist / compresseur centrifuge = centrifugal compressor / comptabilité analytique = cost accounting / comptes bancaires à vue, à préavis ou à terme...= current accounts at sight and at notice or fixed deposits with a term of ... / compte d'ordre = suspense account, contingency account / comptes de régularisation = deferred charges and accrued income (if assets); accrued charges and deferred income (if liabilities) (balance sheet) / action de recherche concertée = collaborative research project / concordat judiciaire = administration (UK); bankruptcy protection (USA) / condensation = reduction (of data) / Programme des Mesures de Confiance = Confidence-building Measures Scheme (CoE: for ex-Yugoslavia) / Conference on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe (short title: European Conference on Security and Disarmament), Stockholm 1984-86; Accord signed 22 Sept. 1986, provides for advance notice of military exercises etc.; aim: to prevent war breaking out by accident / confidence interval: "95% CI" / conflit gelé = "frozen" conflict (politics) / Conseil des communes et régions d'Europe = Council of European Municipalities and Regions (Paris) / consommation commercialisable = tradeable consumption (stat.) / Consumentenbond = Consumer Association (NL) / phase contradictoire = adversarial phase (EU trade marks) / contrat à terme = futures contract (banking, commodities) / action en contrefaçon de tiers = action for infringement (intellectual property) / contrepartie de l'aide alimentaire = food aid counterpart funds / contrôle des dégâts matériaux = damage control / contrôleurs de chasse d’eau pour urinoirs = urinal flush controllers / Convention contre le crime transnational organisé = Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNHigh-level Signing Conference, Palermo, December 2000) / Convention pour la répression de la traite des êtres humains et l'exploitation de la prostitution d'autrui = Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (UN, 1949) / Convention internationale pour la protection de la diversité culturelle et des expressions artistiques = International Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions (UNESCO) / réponse convergente = concordant reply (surveys) / coopération interentreprises = enterprise cooperation / coopérative de crédit = credit union (cf. WOCCU, whose Spanish title is Consejo Mundial de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito) / corps du siège = seat body; seating body (valve) / correspondant = correspondent bank / courriel = e-mail / course solidaire = charity walk (or run) / stratégie de couverture = hedging strategy (econ., polit.) / cowpers = stoves (blast furnace) / crèche parentale = independent creche (run by parents and professionals) (B) / montant de la ligne de crédit = line of credit amount / crédit de caisse = cash credit / crédit documentaire = documentary credit; letter of credit / crédit d'investissement = capital investment loan / créneaux horaires = slots (aviation) / wave with a high crest factor (elec.) / croisement = cross-tabulation (of data) / être au régime de croisière = to be fully up and running / crucis verbis = cast-iron (guarantee); "set in stone" / "crud"= radioactive debris in reactors / crues = floodwater / culbuteur = tippler (coalm.) / culture (UNESCO definition): “the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs” / Czechoslovakia: renamed "Czech and Slovak Federal Republic" April 1990; split into "Czech Republic" and "Slovakia" on 1 January 1993 /


Created by Alison Gaunt
Last updated: 10 March 2021   
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