EU President Juncker claims ‘English is losing its importance’
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER has said that the English language is “losing its importance in Europe” and accused Britain of “abandoning” the EU.
The president of the European Commission yesterday delivered a speech in French and said that English is “slowly but surely” becoming less relevant.
He made the comments despite a warning from Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, that Brexit negotiations could become “impossible unless they are conducted with discretion, moderation and mutual respect”.
Speaking in Florence, Italy, Mr Juncker said: “I will express myself in French because, slowly but surely, English is losing importance in Europe.
“Now growth in the EU is twice that in the US and I feel we can be reassured as far as the immediate future is concerned.
“And at that point – despite the success, despite the growth – our British friends decided to leave the EU, which is a tragedy.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the decision made by the British people. It is no small event.
“Of course, we will negotiate with our British friends in full transparency, but there should be no doubt whatsoever that it is not the EU which is abandoning the UK, it is the opposite – they are abandoning the EU. And this is a difference which will be felt over the next few years.”
English is believed to be the fourth most widely used language in the world with 510 million speakers. By contrast French is only the 18th most widely spoken language in the world, with 130 million speakers.
On Wednesday, Theresa May (inset) launched a blistering attack on the EU for trying to interfere in the election and “run us over” in Brexit talks.
Mr Tusk subsequently suggested that Mrs May was being “emotional”, which led to a furious response from Tory candidates who accused him of being “patronising and sexist”.
David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, last night accused the European Union of “bullying” Britain over Brexit.
He said: “The British people will not be bullied, and the Government will not allow them to be bullied.”
Meanwhile, at the press conference in Italy yesterday, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, said trade talks cannot begin until the rights of EU nationals in the UK are resolved.
“We will not discuss our future relationship with the UK until the 27 member states are reassured that all citizens will be treated properly and humanely,” he said.
Mrs May has repeatedly offered an early deal on the rights of EU migrants but been rebuffed by the European Union. However, Mr Barnier attempted to shift the blame onto Britain.
He said: “Some in the UK have tried to blame member states for the continued uncertainty that citizens have been confronted with for 10 months now.
“That is wrong. The only cause of uncertainty is Brexit.”
Mr Juncker made a rare admission that the European Union is losing its “economic power and clout”.
He said: “Europe does have some weaknesses that can partly explain the outcome of the referendum in the UK.
“There are some weaknesses that sometimes we perhaps overlook. We are maybe scared of the truth sometimes.
“We are losing our economic power and clout. We represent 25pc of global GDP, in 10 years’ time that percentage will shrink down to 15.”
He said: “We will have to avoid some of the mistakes we committed in the past.” (©Daily Telegraph, London)