French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working language’
Emmanuel Macron’s governmen is drawing up plans for French to replace English as the official “working language” of the EU when it takes over the Council of the European Union presidency in 2022, a diplomat has revealed.
France planning to use its first presidency since Brexit to push its native tongue as the “lingua franca” of Brussels, according to a report in Politico.
A senior French diplomat told the website: “Even if we admit that English is a working language and it is commonly practiced, the basis to express oneself in French remains fully in place in the EU institutions.
“We must enrich it, and make it live again so that the French language truly regains ground, and above that, the taste and pride of multilingualism.”
The unnamed diplomat said all high-level meetings of the Council – the body which helps sets the political agenda in Brussels – will be conducted in French instead of English during the six-month presidency.
Notes and minutes will also be “French-first” and the Council will expect all letters from the EU Commission to be in French.
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