The remark came from European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, who was presenting the EU’s autumn forecast, his last under the current Parliament before Ursula Von Der Leyen swoops in on her coveted role. The Frenchman said: “After Brexit, English language will be banned everywhere in the European Union.” He then added: “No, I was joking.”
He then spoke in French for more than half of the introduction of his speech, before stopping.
He said: “Now I’m going to speak English, sorry. I thought I could do the last session in French. But that’s not how things are in the Commission.”
He added: “We will see what happens with Brexit.”
To the roar of laughter, he said “as I’ve always said, after Brexit, English will be banned everywhere”.
The EU demanded the English language is banned (Image: GETTY)
The remark came from European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici (Image: GETTY)
He then said: “Don’t be alarmed, it was just a joke.”
Moving on to the EU’s growth and economy, Mr Moscovici provided a detailed explanation of the forecast.
He said: “The fundamentals of the EU economy are robust: after six years of growth, unemployment in the EU is at its lowest since the turn of the century and the aggregate deficit below one percent of GDP.
“But the challenging road ahead leaves no room for complacency.
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He then said: “Don’t be alarmed, it was just a joke.”
Moving on to the EU’s growth and economy, Mr Moscovici provided a detailed explanation of the forecast.
He said: “The fundamentals of the EU economy are robust: after six years of growth, unemployment in the EU is at its lowest since the turn of the century and the aggregate deficit below one percent of GDP.
“But the challenging road ahead leaves no room for complacency.
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“All policy levers will need to be used to strengthen Europe’s resilience and support growth.”
His comments come after the EU voted last month to keep English as the official language despite a law to drop it post-Brexit.
The EU is keen to retain the English language after the October 31 deadline, even as England and the rest of the UK leaves the bloc.
Ireland, with a population of less than one percent of the current EU, and Malta, with 0.09 percent, will be the only English-speaking countries in the union after Brexit.
The Lib Dems are campaigning to Remain, despite the result of the Referendum (Image: GETTY)
Polish MEP Danuta Hubner said of the decision: “Whether we like it or not, English has become a lingua franca in the decades following the Second World War, in the world and also in Europe.
“When you look at it, the largest native language in Europe is Russian, and when you look at the foreign languages that people in the EU use to communicate, English is the most important one.
“I think it would be very hard to explain why we should refrain from using English.”
German MEP Daniel Freund said English should remain as the official language because it’s the one all EU states “have in common”.
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“From the older colleagues I hear over and over again that with the eastward enlargement in 2004 at the latest English is being used more and more. Today you speak to young Italians, Spaniards and also some French people in English.”
English was added to the EU language canon in 1973 when the UK and Ireland joined the bloc.
Officially, it could be dropped after Brexit. Each nation can only register one language and as the UK registered English and Ireland and Malta registered their languages as Irish and Maltese – not English – there will be no member state officially using it as their registered language of choice.
European Council could scrap English as a working language but it remains unlikely, despite calls for French and German to be given more prominence.
Mr Freund said: “Such ideas always come up again and again, and one or another German minister sometimes has the idea that German is spoken again in Europe.”
Meanwhile, the general election called by Boris Johnson is a matter of weeks away.
Dubbed the ‘Brexit Election’ there has already been a fair amount of drama from the Labour and Brexit Party sides.
Nigel Farage has lost MPs who refuse to stand against the Tories while Labour’s spending plans have caused shock after it has been claimed Jeremy Corbyn could bankrupt Britain.
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega.
