Don’t mistake languages for mere words

By Sean Goulding Carroll |@Sean_G_Carroll

Spain’s request to expand the list of official EU languages to include those formally recognised in Spain – Basque, Catalan, and Galician – has prompted scorn from some quarters of Brussels, who fret about adding to the EU’s Tower-of-Babel administration.

Put forward by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a bid to placate Catalan separatists (a vital part of the electoral maths needed to keep him in office), the move is likely to meet opposition from countries worried about opening the floodgates to similar requests.

Leaders may also baulk at the cost of providing translation into these new languages when Spaniards (whether or not they identify with that label) can already access official EU documents in Spanish.

Of course, viewing the request through the prism of mere practicality is missing the point. For proponents, official EU language status is more about symbolism than communication with the EU institutions.

There are two schools of thought as to the worth of languages. The first is purely pragmatic – languages at their heart are a means to communicate. Their power stems mainly from their utility. If we cannot connect with others, then a language is simply ornamental.

This argument serves English particularly well, as it is the world’s most widely understood language when people who speak it as a second language are accounted for. 

In the Brussels bubble, English has become an essential communication tool.

At least 2,013 people died in the Central Mediterranean trying to cross the sea to reach Europe in 2023, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Germany will likely emit 150 million tonnes more of CO2-equivalent gases than EU rules created by the Effort Sharing Regulation permit, which is expected to result in a hefty penalty payment of up to €30 billion.

The European Commission has announced it would use a novel competition tool to assess two mergers that do not have an EU dimension under the EU’s competition regulation, but nevertheless threaten competition in the single market.

Germany’s chemical and car industries are protesting the anticipated bureaucratic strain expected from the phase-in of the EU’s novel carbon border tariff (CBAM), while consultancy Deloitte finds that companies have failed to sufficiently prepare.

The West’s hesitation in supplying all necessary weapons systems to Ukraine, driven by fear of escalation, has been costly and a different approach could have changed the course of the war, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday.

As we enter an era of “global boiling”, a rise in environmental migrants is expected and the EU should realise that climate, not migration, is the greatest threat to Europe and should be our number one priority, writes François Gemenne.

Look out for…

• EU institutions in summer recess

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Alice Taylor]