Reuters: Au revoir anglais? EU could drop English as official tongue after Brexit
English, the world's second language and the main working tongue of EU institutions, may no longer be an official language of the European Union once Britain leaves the bloc, a senior EU lawmaker said on Monday.
The symbolic, if impractical, move would further reduce London's influence on the continent, and infuriate the Irish.
Each member state has the right to nominate one EU idiom. Although English is the most spoken language in Europe, and an official language in three member states, only Britain legally chose it in Brussels. Ireland chose Gaelic. Malta picked Maltese.
"English is our official language because it has been notified by the UK. If we don't have the UK, we don't have English," Danuta Hubner, chair of the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee told a news conference on the legal consequences of the British referendum to leave the EU.
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Update: English will not be an official EU language after Brexit, says senior MEP (Politico)
WNU Editor: On the mainland of Europe people speak 3 languages .... the language of the country that they were born in, the language of the country that they now live in, and English ... and speaking English is almost universal among the young. Is this the end of English in Europe .... no. They may downgrade English as an official EU language .... but most people will use it anyway.
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