A FRENCH presidential candidate has claimed
English should be banned as an official EU
language after Britain leaves Brussels – despite it
being an official language of two other countries in
the union.
Jean-Luc Melenchon has said English should not be
the third working language of European institutions
when the UK decides to leave.
But the language is used in day-to-day business in
Brussels and it is an official language in Ireland and
Malta.
Winger Melenchon, 64, said: “English can no longer
be the third working language of the European
parliament.”
And mayor of the French town of Beziers, Robert
Menard, tweeted: “The English language is no
longer legitimate in Brussels.”
But overbearing EU bureaucracy means English
could be phased out anyway.
Danuta Huebner, head of the European Parliament’s
Constitutional Affairs Committee, said: “We have a
regulation… where every EU country has the right to
notify one official language.
“The Irish have notified Gaelic, and the Maltese
have notified Maltese, so you have only the UK
notifying English.
“If we don’t have the UK, we don’t have English.”
Brussels has 23 official languages, but German,
French and English are the top “working” languages
used in the Commission and council of ministers.
And English is the most popular foreign language
used by MEPs and Brussels officials.
However an EU chief promised English will be
maintained as a working language in the 27-nation
bloc.
German commissioner Gunther Oettinger said: “We
have a series of member states that speak English,
and English is the world language which we all
accept.”
English should be banned as an official EU
language after Britain leaves Brussels – despite it
being an official language of two other countries in
the union.
Jean-Luc Melenchon has said English should not be
the third working language of European institutions
when the UK decides to leave.
But the language is used in day-to-day business in
Brussels and it is an official language in Ireland and
Malta.
Winger Melenchon, 64, said: “English can no longer
be the third working language of the European
parliament.”
And mayor of the French town of Beziers, Robert
Menard, tweeted: “The English language is no
longer legitimate in Brussels.”
But overbearing EU bureaucracy means English
could be phased out anyway.
Danuta Huebner, head of the European Parliament’s
Constitutional Affairs Committee, said: “We have a
regulation… where every EU country has the right to
notify one official language.
“The Irish have notified Gaelic, and the Maltese
have notified Maltese, so you have only the UK
notifying English.
“If we don’t have the UK, we don’t have English.”
Brussels has 23 official languages, but German,
French and English are the top “working” languages
used in the Commission and council of ministers.
And English is the most popular foreign language
used by MEPs and Brussels officials.
However an EU chief promised English will be
maintained as a working language in the 27-nation
bloc.
German commissioner Gunther Oettinger said: “We
have a series of member states that speak English,
and English is the world language which we all
accept.”
