Countries like to leave a mark on their six-month presidency of the European Union. Finland is no exception. A visit to the Finnish presidency website gives you the choice of a news review in English, French, Finnish - or Latin. The "conspectus rerum latinus" is lovingly translated each week, providing such gems as ministri aerarii et praefecti aergentariae centralis (finance ministers and central bank governors), colloquia Unionis Oeconomicae et Monetariae (talks on economic and monetary union) and praeparationes ad amplificationem communitatis (preparations for community enlargement).
Tuomo Pekkanen, professor of Latin at Jyväskylä University, who started broadcasting the news in Latin on Finnish radio 10 years ago, explains that coining words for new technology isn't a problem, you just go to the Latin root.
Perhaps using Latin isn't as daft as it sounds. Pekkanen says there are an estimated 50 million people in Europe who learnt Latin at some time in their lives, and there will be more since the Soviet embargo on Latin lessons was lifted. If there were the political will it could become the language of the European parliament, he puckishly suggests.