Logo de l'OEP

Sélectionnez votre langue

Logo de l'OEP

No, non or nein? The other Brussels Brexit battle (Financial Time)

Philip Stephens 26 january 2018

Paris thinks EU business could be conducted in French again

Never mind the looming collision between Berlin and Paris over Emmanuel Macron’s expansive plans for the eurozone. Brexit has triggered a more emotionally charged contest. For France, there is something much more important than money at stake — it’s a matter, you could say, of national pride.  

Not so long ago, the business of Brussels was conducted in French. Paris thinks it could be so again. The bloc’s rules allow each member state to designate an official EU language. Britain’s departure will leave English without a sponsor on the present list of 24. Ireland and Malta use English at home, but have nominated their mother tongues for EU business.

On the face of it, banishing English is a ludicrous suggestion. It is deeply embedded in the day-to-day work of Europe. On the other hand, there are some determined to extinguish all traces of UK membership from the EU’s institutions. Once removed from the list, English would cease to be one of the bloc’s three working languages. The language of Molière and Proust could be restored to its centuries-old primacy in European diplomacy.

More...