A French mayor has called for
Brussels to ditch its use of the English language after Britain voted to leave
the European Union.
English is one of 24 'official
languages' of the EU while it is also one of the 'working languages' used to
conduct every day business.
But Robert Ménard, the mayor
of the southern French town of Béziers, believes English now no longer has
'any legitimacy' in Brussels in the wake of the Brexit vote.
Meanwhile, the left-wing
presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon said English can no longer be
the 'third working language of the European Parliament'.
According to The Local, 51 per
cent of EU citizens can speak English as a first or second language while just
over a quarter can speak French and nearly a third can speak German.
Despite Thursday's exit vote,
it appears unlikely English would be axed altogether in Brussels since it
is also the official language of both Ireland and Malta - both members of the
EU.
In 2013, an EU report revealed
that English had squeezed out every other language in the competition to
become the common tongue of Europe.
It found that English is the
most popular foreign language in all but five European countries, and all of
those are small nations that use the language of their larger neighbours.
Along with French and German,
English is one of 24 'official languages' of the EU while it is also one of the
'working languages' used to conduct every day business. French President
Francois Hollande is pictured today with European Council President Donald
Tusk
The report also found that two out of three people across the continent have at least a fair working knowledge of English.
The report published by the EU
statistics arm Eurostat suggested that the dominance of English was likely to
become even greater in the future.
It found that 94 per cent of
secondary school pupils and 83 per cent of primary age pupils across the EU are
learning English as their first foreign language, more than four times as many
as learn French, German or Spanish. Only in Britain and Ireland is French the
top foreign language in schools.
French Prime Minister calls on
EU to stop being 'intrusive' following Brexit vote amid calls from other
European politicians to start the UK's exit negotiations immediately
The European Union must stop
being nit-picky and intrusive, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said today as
the bloc scrambled to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave.
The Brexit
vote to leave the EU has
deepened fears among mainstream politicians across Europe about the rise of
eurosceptic, anti-establishment parties, particularly in France, where the
far-right National Front is increasingly popular.
That concern has also prompted
mainstream French politicians on the left and right to call for an overhaul of
Europe, in a country where surveys show disillusionment with Brussels
is growing.
'We must put an end to this
sad and finicky Europe. Too often it is intrusive on details and desperately
absent on what's essential,' Valls said.
'We must break away from the
dogma of ever more Europe. Europe must act not by principle but when it is
useful and pertinent.'
While a large majority of
French are attached to EU membership, polls over the past few years have
consistently shown a majority also want Europe to have fewer powers, said
Francois Miquet-Marty, head of the Viavoice polling institute.
Only one on five voters want
'more Europe', Miquet-Marty said.
Long in the EU's driving seat alongside the bloc's power-house Germany, France, dogged by a poor track-record on abiding by the EU's fiscal rules, has been steadily less active on the EU scene over the past years.
In his speech on Sunday in
Normandy, Valls insisted Europe 'is not about seeing sovereign states
disappear.'
He also said Europe must
defend its economic interests better, on trade matters but also on financial,
social, environmental and cultural issues. 'Europe must be firm,' he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment