JUNCKER TALKS RUBBISH IN ANYONE’S LANGUAGE

JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, I have decided, actually enjoys being the stage-villain in this country. This helps explain why the European Commission president opened his remarks at a conference in Florence last Friday with the announcement that he would speak in French rather than English ‘because slowly but surely English is losing importance in Europe’.

Note that he said this in English, not French — because it was us he wanted to irritate. In fact, the English language is ever more widely spoken in Europe — and that trend is likely to continue, regardless of what the institutions of the EU decide to do in their own conclaves.

And English is an official language in the EU states of Ireland and Malta, so it will still be used in the gatherings of Brussels even after the UK leaves.

The French government, however, has long been furious about the way English supplanted French as the accepted common language in EU conferences. I had a glimpse of this some years ago when I was a participant in a conference in Lisbon. The French civil servant in my session told me she had to fill out a form from Paris which asked whether or not proceedings had been conducted in French — and, if not, whether she had made efforts to ensure they had.

In front of me, she then ticked the box indicating that we had all spoken in French.

When I pointed out to her that we had all spoken in English — including her — and that she had made no attempt to dissuade us, she laughed: ‘That’s how we always fill out the forms. It’s just a bureaucratic formality — and it keeps everyone happy.’

This taught me a little about how the EU works. If you think the British are cynical about its bureaucratic processes, you should speak to those actually involved in implementing them.

As for Juncker: he can talk rubbish in whatever language he chooses.