Chirac bolts EU summit over switch to English
A French official said Chirac, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, and Finance Minister Thierry Breton left the room when Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, head of the UNICE business lobby, switched from French to English at a summit session with the EU's so-called social partners -- employers and unions.''Representing 20 million companies in 39 organizations in 33 countries, I will speak English, the language of business," the former head of the French employers' organization said. A UNICE spokeswoman said Seilliere began his speech in French before switching to the language of Shakespeare and Milton Friedman. Chirac missed Seilliere urging leaders to ''resist national protectionism in order to avoid a negative domino effect" in the EU's internal market, in a veiled criticism of France and others who have tried to block cross-border takeovers.
Note EU-Digest editor: Recently the European Union promoted Gaelic, Ireland's native tongue, to "official" status. This means the EU will now also have to turn out official documents in Gaelic, in addition to the 20 other official EU languages.
The EU translation bureau is easily the world's largest translation agency. Translation costs for the EU's 20 official languages are spiraling out of control. In January, the amount passed the Euro 1 billion mark following the entry in 2004 of 10 new EU members, chiefly from Eastern Europe. As a francophile I am also attached to the French culture and language, but when it comes to managing the day to day business affairs of the EU it seems practicality and economic realism must prevail. Isn't it high time to pinpoint one language as the official language of business at the EU headquarters and thereby cut the translation budget by 80%. EU taxpayers deserve it.
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