After Brexit, French Politicians Want English Language Out Of EU Too
Just one problem: The English language is one of the official languages of Ireland and Malta, who are still members of the EU.
On Friday morning, the mayor of the southern French town of Béziers, Robert Ménard — a man with close ties to the National Front — reckoned that English no longer had “any legitimacy” in Brussels.
La langue anglaise n’a plus aucune légitimité à Bruxelles.#Brexit
Left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who supports moving away from European treaties, has, for his part, said that English can no longer be “the third working language” of the European Parliament.
L’anglais ne peut plus être la troisième langue de travail du parlement européen #Brexit
This linguistic choice is clearly tied to member states’ influence, but it also follows practical concerns and historical traditions. Deliberation in the European Union Court of Justice takes place in French, as do the majority of discussions do in the European Court of Auditors.
So although the U.K. doesn’t use the euro and has preserved its monetary sovereignty, the European Central Bank has, since its creation, always and exclusively used the English language. And this is not for London’s sake, but for the sake of not complicating its extremely sensitive communication by multiplying the channels of translation.