“We want to ensure equal treatment of all the European Union’s official languages, including French, of course, in the context of the agreements with Indonesia and India,” said a French official, granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door discussions.
The European Commission estimates that prioritizing the English version would cut almost a year off the time it takes to get those trade deals over the line.
The dispute is particularly sensitive for Paris, where defending the French language — once the principal language of international diplomacy — has been a core tenet of its foreign policy. France is meanwhile headed into a presidential election cycle where Euroskeptic and protectionist voices are increasingly shaping the political debate, making concessions on trade or national prestige especially explosive.
“However procedural it may appear, this measure touches on highly sensitive issues surrounding trade, language and French national prestige — handing powerful political ammunition to populist parties that polls repeatedly show are already standing at the gates of power,” said François Chimits, head of the Europe Program at the Paris-based Institut Montaigne.
Italy initially joined France in expressing concern, with Rome and Paris warning that the fast-track procedure would set a democratic and legal precedent. But it dropped its opposition on Thursday according to one of the people familiar.
“France isn’t dragging its feet; France cannot commit to an international document — such as a trade agreement — that is drafted in a language other than French,” a second French official said, citing constitutional obligations. “Voting on an English-only version would be a violation of the EU’s principle of multilingualism.”
