[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Carth

Soz me old mucker, won't happen again chief

Not to worry, Squire. Main thing is that we are out of the EU, waving two fingers of both hands at the Commission.

Meanwhile, the latest French dream: Torygraph paywall with selected quote:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...-languages-eu/

French plot to oust English and German as official working languages of the EU after Brexit

French should be instated as the sole working language of the European Union instead of English because of Brexit, according to a plot prepared by almost 40 French MPs.

French was once the dominant language in the corridors of power in Brussels but English is now effectively the lingua franca.

That shift was accelerated by the accession of Eastern European countries to the bloc in 2004 and entrenched by the fact that many people speak English as a second language.

There are three working languages of the EU, which are English, French and German. English or French tend to be preferred in meetings or press conferences.

Julien Aubert, who is seen to be on the fringes of the centre-Right Republicains, has tabled a resolution for the French committee on European affairs.

He must convince the committee to take up the resolution. Even if he is successful, Emmanuel Macron would have to decide to pursue the quixotic task and convince the 26 other EU leaders to support the bid for French linguistic supremacy.

“In recent years, thanks to globalisation dominated by Anglo-Saxon culture, English has tended to take precedence over the other two working languages, which are nevertheless those of two founding countries of the European Union,” the resolution said.

"The United Kingdom's exit from the European Union is a unique opportunity to reverse this trend,” it reads, “Once the United Kingdom has left the European Union, there is no longer any reason why the institutions of the Union should be so imbued with Anglo-Saxon culture.”

Mr Aubert said that after Brexit English was the maternal language of just 1 percent of the EU population.

“English is now the mother tongue of just one percent of the population of the EU, while French is the second language of many members and is the most-practised foreign language, after English,” he said.

The resolution admits that there are more German native speakers in the EU than French but adds that French has a greater international profile.

Most EU documents are translated into each of the 24 official languages of the bloc. The French have a reputation for suffering from crippling status anxiety about their language, even though it is the main one spoken in the European Court of Justice.

Ireland and Malta are the two remaining EU countries which have English as an official language.

“Brussels-English” is used around the EU institutions in the Belgian capital more often than French.

Despite often sounding clunky or weird to native speakers, it has proved ideally suited for coining the bureaucratic jargon that greases the EU’s legislative machine.

While Mr Macron is unlikely to take up the initiative, he does intend to ensure that French is used more widely in Brussels during France's term holding the six month presidency of the EU from January.

This will mean, for example, that meeting documents will be produced and circulated among diplomats in French rather than English, which is more usual.

Mr Aubert has a reputation for radical and outlandish proposals. In 2018, he said that anyone wishing to take French nationality should be forced to take a French first name from the Christian saints or the country’s historical heroes.

Only then would applicants, including British people wanting French nationality after Brexit, be given a passport.

What do the Remainers think?



---------- Post added at 17:24 ---------- Previous post was at 17:18 ----------


More French absurdity - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...t-brexit-says/

Britain is ‘obsessed’ with France and is using fishing row to distract from Brexit, says Macron ally

Brexit Britain is “obsessed” with France and is using the row over fishing licences to distract from the “mess” created by leaving the EU, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

Clément Beaune blamed food and fuel supply shortages in the UK for the decision to withhold licences to fish in British waters.

He warned that Paris had “pressure points” that it could use to force the UK to grant more than the 12 out of 47 French applications for new licences.

"Stop telling us you do not need us any more, stop being obsessed with us, stop believing that we will solve your problems," he said.

"They made a mess of Brexit. It's their choice and their failure, not ours. It was a bad choice, we see that today,” he said.

"It is not by creating problems for our fishermen that you will solve the problems of shortages of Christmas turkey."

The Telegraph understands that British officials are working hard to resolve the row, holding “vessel-by-vessel” negotiations with their European Commission counterparts.

Defra has purchased third party data to assist French boat owners in proving they have the right to operate in the UK’s coastal waters under the Brexit trade agreement.

There are 35 French applications still pending, after insufficient evidence was submitted to establish their historical fishing patterns.

A government spokesman said: “The Government has granted 98 percent of licence applications from EU vessels to fish in our waters. Our approach has been reasonable and fully in line with our commitments in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).”

Meanwhile, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, said on Friday that Australia’s decision to quit its contract to purchase 12 French-built submarines in favour of US nuclear submarines was “rational”.