Communication in a Democratic Multilingual Europe: European Union Language Policy Evaluation from a Critical Perspective

Abstract

After the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, the European Union is more aware than ever that it necessitates an imminent reform. The present paper fits into the pending reconceptualisation of the European Union's legal and institutional system. Halfway between a confederation and a federation, European legislature may have direct effects on its citizens, therefore, transparency is a central element of legitimate governance in the EU. However, while the European Union has long been struggling to respect transparency through its ambitious policy of multilingualism, the ever-growing number of official/national languages puts EU institutions under enormous pressure. Since it is impossible to respect integral multilingualism under all circumstances, European institutions started to adopt ad hoc strategies implicitly. Fearing the explosion of the EU's linguistic 'powder keg' the language regime of the European Union has developed a series of contradictory aspects. Along with the critical review of the European Union's language policy, this paper raises the possibility to adopt Euro-English, an ascending, independent variety of English peculiar to Brussels bureaucracy for institutional communication. It aims to provide impetus for a comprehensive reflection on a European language policy that is capable of reconciling transparency and efficiency.