The European Commission is planning to launch a feasibility study 
on a literary translation prize. Such initiative would aim at supporting the professional development of literary translators. Through this study, the Commission first wants to assess potential benefits and constraints of the prize and to define its modalities.
Interestingly, it seems that the future prize might also cover minority and regional languages. One of the Commission’s objectives in launching this study is to look among other things into the issue of diffusion of less spoken languages and the promotion of the European cultural identity.
The study also falls into the scope of the EU strategy for multilingualism launched in 2008 through the Communication on Multilingualism.
The prize would probably follow the same model as the EU prize for contemporary literature which was launched earlier in 2009.
The feasibility study should start in early 2010 and be completed in the autumn 2010.