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Foreign Policy
Winter 1998–99
Do You Speak European?
The European Union (EU) has committed the nations of Europe to speak with one voice. But what language will that voice speak?
The EU has always had to walk a fine line between promoting integration and arousing nationalist sentiment among those already wary of the “European citizen.” Its first incarnation, the European Economic Community, introduced in 1958 a policy of multilingualism to ensure that one national language of each of its member countries was represented in the new organization. Today, the EU has 11 official languages in which representatives to the European Parliament can debate with one another during parliamentary sesssions.
EU officials have put in place a wide range of measures to advance Europe’s linguistic diversity. In 1984, the European Parliament created the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages, which protects the language rights of the nearly 50 million EU citizens who speak one or more of Europe’s 40 recognized minority languages. More recently, the EU launched LINGUA, a language-learning program that supports teacher training and joint educational projects and develops tools for language instruction. Although LINGUA represents all official EU languages, plus Gaelic, Icelandic, Luxembourgish, and Norwegian, it favors those less widely used and taught.
Perhaps the most significant feature of European language policy is the Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. Adopted in 1992 by the 40-member Council of Europe, the charter requires signatories to make possible the use of minority languages in education, judicial proceedings, administrative and public services, and the media. So far, Finland and the Netherlands have signed on, with Britain, Germany, and Spain expected to follow.
Despite these continent-wide initiatives, however, efforts to promote equal treatment of all official languages in the administration of the EU have fallen flat. Although 15 percent of the European Commission’s 17,000 personnel are translators, interpreters, and terminologists, EU institutions use only a handful of “working languages” to conduct daily business. First among these is English, the primary language for the EU’s Business Cooperation Net (responsible for organizing joint ventures among EU companies), the European Central Bank, several EU newsletters, and most other economic communications. English is also threatening to supplant French as the language of diplomacy within the EU. A 1991 study showed that although French is still used more frequently than English in the European Commission, English is preferred among younger officials.
Henry Kissinger once quipped, “When I want to speak with Europe, who do I call?” Europeans are still arguing over the answer. But whoever it is will probably be able to take the call in English.