Although all daily briefings held at the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, for media representatives, as well as press conferences of the leaders of European institutions, are conducted on a parity basis for both languages, English dominates at the expert and practical level.
If one takes into account the fact that in Brussels, which in addition to European structures and NATO headquarters hosts 56 other international organizations and over two thousand foreign companies employing about 150,000 citizens of EU member states, the growing influence of the English language becomes quite understandable. A united Europe needs a single language, the Eurocrats assert. Most of them agree that it should be English.
According to the European Commission, only 19% of the population of EU countries currently speak French, which is one of the 11 official languages of this collective organization. As of May, their number will increase to 20. By comparison, 41% of the population of the current 15 EU countries speak English.
Given the forthcoming accession of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, whose citizens more often speak English and German, not to mention Russian, the possibility of French being displaced as a working language of the EU becomes even more real. In this connection, the Brussels magazine "Bulletin" notes that of more than 12,000 "new" Europeans who, in connection with the EU enlargement, submitted applications for employment in the EU executive bodies, the overwhelming majority speak English and only 24% have command of French.
The previous wave of enlargement—in 1995, when Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU—also contributed to the growing influence of English in EU institutions. Meanwhile, in the view of observers, the accession of ten new states will not only reinforce this trend but also lead to an increase in funds allocated for translation services in EU institutions from 700 million to 1 billion euros.
Currently, 58% of all official documentation is translated into English and about 29% into French. Nevertheless, if necessary, all official texts can be translated into any of the twenty official languages of the European Union.
In connection with the enlargement of the integration bloc, funds for translation work in its highest body—the EU Council—will be increased from the current 52 million to 60 million euros. The leadership of the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice, for its part, plans to translate speeches and documents into all EU official languages without exception.