EU Law Blog

As we have noted, English is becoming increasingly dominant as the language in which the EU functions. But some people are unhappy about this development. Last week Jacques Chirac, the French President, walked out of the summit meeting when the French head of UNICE (organisation of employers) addressed the meeting in English. According to the BBC story, President Chirac explained why he walked out as follows:

Faced with the efforts that we are making constantly, particularly within the European Union… I must say that I was deeply shocked to see a Frenchman speak at the council in English. That is the reason why the French delegation and I left, rather than have to listen to that.

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I have previously noted that Spain has argued that the Spanish language should be given greater prominence within the EU. And we have seen that the EU celebrates its linguistic diversity. Spain and the Council have now concluded an administrative arrangement to facilitate Spanish citizens communicating with EU institutions in their own language even if this is not Castilian (Spanish) provided that the language is recognised by the Spanish Constitution (Euskara, Catalan and Galician). In relation to written communications the Spanish citizens will send them to the Spanish Government for translation and forwarding to the EU institutions. Under certain circumstances Spanish representatives will be able to address the Council in a Spanish language other than Castilian (request made in advance, cost of translation borne by Spain). Spain will also provide certified translations of measures adopted by co-decision into the other languages and these will be linked to from the Council’s website with disclaimers stating that “those translations do not engage the responsibility of the Institutions of the Union and have no legal value”.

Meanwhile, more data suggesting that English is the dominant language in the EU.

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The EU’s working languages are English, French and German, but Spain argues that Spanish should be regarded as a more significant EU language than it is on the grounds that very large numbers of people in the world speak Spanish. And in the context of enlargement and the reorganisation of translation services that is occurring as a result of enlargement, Spain has been arguing that the reorganisation does not adequately reflect the significance of the Spanish language.

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