Languages of the European Union

The European Union (EU) has 24 official languages, of which the three most natively spoken ones are German, French and Italian. Previously, English, French and German were considered "procedural" languages, but this notion was abandoned by the European Commission, whereas the European Parliament accepts all official languages as working languages. Today, English and French are used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU. Institutions have the right to define the linguistic regime of their working, but the Commission and a number of other institutions have not done so, as indicated by several judicial rulings.

The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity. This principle is enshrined in Article 22 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (art. 22) and in the Treaty on European Union (art. 3(3) TEU). In the EU, language policy is the responsibility of member states, and the EU does not have a common language policy; EU institutions play a supporting role in this field, based on the principle of "subsidiarity"; they promote a European dimension in the member states' language policies. The EU encourages all its citizens to be multilingual; specifically, it encourages them to be able to speak two languages in addition to their native language. Though the EU has very limited influence in this area, as the content of educational systems is the responsibility of individual member states, a number of EU funding programmes actively promote language learning and linguistic diversity.

All 24 official languages of the EU are accepted as working languages, but in practice only threeEnglish, French, and Germanare in wide general use in its institutions, and of these, English is the most commonly used. The most widely understood language in the EU is English, which is understood by 44% of all adults, while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18%. French is an official language in all three of the cities that are political centres of the EU: Brussels, Strasbourg, and Luxembourg City. Since the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU in 2020, the government of France has encouraged greater use of French as a working language.

Luxembourgish and Turkish, which have official status in Luxembourg and Cyprus, respectively, are the only two official languages of EU member states that are not official languages of the EU. In 2023, the Spanish government requested that its co-official languages Catalan, Basque, and Galician be added to the official languages of the EU.

Official EU languages

, the official languages of the European Union, as stipulated in the latest amendment of Regulation No 1 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community of 1958, are:

{|class="wikitable sortable"

!rowspan=2| Language

! colspan="2" | Official in (de jure or de facto)

!rowspan=2| Since

! At national level

! At subnational level

| Bulgarian

| Bulgaria

| 2007

| Croatian

| Croatia

| Austria Hungary Italy

| 2013

| Czech

| Czechia

| Slovakia

| 2004

| Danish

| Denmark

| Germany

| 1973

| Dutch

| Belgium Netherlands

| 1958

| English

| Ireland Malta United Kingdom (until 31 December 2020)

| 1973

| Estonian

| Estonia

| 2004

| Finnish

| Finland

| 1995

| French

| Belgium France Luxembourg

| Italy

| 1958

| German

| Austria Belgium Germany Luxembourg

| Denmark Italy Poland

| 1958

| Greek

| Cyprus Greece

| 1981

| Hungarian

| Hungary

| Austria Romania Slovakia Slovenia Croatia

| 2004

| Irish

| Ireland

| 2007

| Italian

| Italy

| Croatia Slovenia

| 1958

| Latvian

| Latvia

| 2004

| Lithuanian

| Lithuania

| Poland

| 2004

| Maltese

| Malta

| 2004

| Polish

| Poland

| 2004

| Portuguese

| Portugal

| 1986

| Romanian

| Romania

| 2007

| Slovak

| Slovakia

| 2004

| Slovene

| Slovenia

| Austria

</gallery>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Knowledge of languages in EU27 (2023) and 38% of EU citizens state that they have sufficient skills in English to have a conversation (excluding citizens of Ireland, an English-speaking country). A total of 28% of Europeans indicate that they know either French (14%) or German (14%), along with their native language. French is most commonly studied and used in southern Europe, especially in Mediterranean countries, in Germany, Portugal, Romania, the Benelux countries and Ireland. German, on the other hand, is commonly studied and used in the Benelux countries, in Scandinavia, and in the newer EU member states. Spanish is most commonly studied in France, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal. In 19 out of 29 countries polled, English is the most widely known language apart from the native language, this being particularly the case in Sweden (89%), Malta (88%); the Netherlands (87%); and Denmark (86%). A total of 77% of EU citizens believe that children should learn English. English was considered the number one language to learn in all countries where the research was conducted except for Ireland and Luxembourg. English, either as a native language or as a second/foreign language, is spoken by 44% of EU citizens, followed by German with 36% and French with 30%.

thumb|upright=1.15|The EU enlargements since 1990 have largely favoured the position of German relative to French. The only exceptions are Romania, Cyprus and Malta. Red: Countries where German is more known than French. Blue: Countries where French is more known than German. Darker colours: Native countries. Figure: year of accession. C: Candidate country.

With the enlargement of the European Union, the balance between French and German is slowly changing. More citizens in the new member states speak German (23% compared with 12% in the EU15) while fewer speak French or Spanish (3% and 1% respectively compared with 16% and 7% among the EU15 group). A notable exception is Romania, where 24% of the population speaks French as a foreign language compared to 6% who speak German as a foreign language. At the same time, the balance is being changed in the opposite direction by growth of the French-speaking population and decrease of the German-speaking population.

Language skills are unevenly distributed both over the geographical area of Europe and over sociodemographic groups. Reasonably good language competences are perceived in relatively small member states with several state languages, lesser used native languages or "language exchange" with neighbouring countries. This is the case in Luxembourg, where 92% speak at least two languages. Those who live in southern European countries or countries where one of the major European languages is a state language have a lower likelihood of speaking multiple foreign languages. Only 5% of Turks, 13% of Irish, 16% of Italians, 17% of Spaniards and 18% of Britons speak at least two languages apart from their native language.

Working languages

European Commission

While documents for and communication with citizens are in every official EU language as a right, day-to-day work in the European Commission is based around its three working languages: English, French, and German. Of these, English and French are used the most often. The use of English vs. French depends greatly on the unit or directorate. Only a few of the commissioners use a language other than English or French as their working language. German is rarely used as a true working language in the Commission, and German media have called the dominance of English and French a discrimination against German (which is the most spoken mother tongue of the EU) and a violation of the regulations pertaining to the EU's working languages. The German Bundestag has repeatedly called for German to receive an equal position in the Commission alongside English and French. The language situation has also disappointed many in France, and Kristalina Georgieva, who is from Bulgaria, gained a round of applause when she told the European Parliament she would learn French while in the Commission.

Use of German has, however, been increasing in EU institutions, as has the number of people learning the language across Europe.

European Parliament

The European Parliament translates its proceedings into all official languages so that fellow MEPs can understand them better than if they had the delayed translation. Committee meetings also often default to the language most understood by those attending instead of listening to the translation.

Court of Justice of the European Union

The working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union is French. The judges deliberate in French, pleadings and written legal submissions are translated into French, and the judgment is drafted in French. The Advocates-General, by contrast, may work and draft their opinions in any official language, as they do not take part in any deliberations. These opinions are then translated into French for the benefit of the judges and their deliberations.

European Central Bank

The working language of the European Central Bank is English.

Policy

The European Union's legal powers on legislative acts and other initiatives on language policy are based on the provisions of the Treaties of the European Union. In the EU, language policy is the responsibility of member states, and the European Union does not have a common "language policy". Based on the principle of subsidiarity, European Union institutions play a supporting role in this field, promoting cooperation between the member states and promoting the European dimension in the member states' language policies, particularly through the teaching and dissemination of the languages of the member states (Article 149.2). The rules governing the languages of the institutions of the Community shall, without prejudice to the provisions contained in the Statute of the Court of Justice, be determined by the council, acting unanimously (Article 290). All languages, in which was originally drawn up or was translated due to enlargement, are legally equally authentic. Every citizen of the Union may write to any of the EU institutions or bodies in one of these languages and receive an answer in the same language (Article 24 TFEU).

In the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding since its inclusion in the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU declares that it respects linguistic diversity (Article 22) and prohibits discrimination on grounds of language (Article 21). Respect for linguistic diversity is a fundamental value of the European Union, in the same way as respect for the person, openness towards other cultures, and tolerance and acceptance of other people.

Although not an EU treaty, most EU member states have ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Languages of the EU member states

| valign=top |

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark

| valign=top |

Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland

| valign=top |

Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland

| valign=top |

Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden

Notes

References

Bibliography

Special Eurobarometers

External links

Europa: Languages and Europe – The European Union portal on languages
Eurostat: Foreign language learning statistics (Jan. 2016)
European Commission > Education and Training > Policy Areas > Languages
European Commission Directorate-General for Translation (DGT)
European Commission Directorate-General for Interpretation (former SCIC)
European Union Publications Office
European Union interinstitutional style guide
Translation tools and workflow
Most Europeans can speak multiple languages. UK and Ireland not so much
Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe - 2012 Edition

hr:Jezici Europske unije

Languages of the European Union

Official EU languages

Working languages

European Commission

European Parliament

Court of Justice of the European Union

European Central Bank

Policy

Languages of the EU member states

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Special Eurobarometers

Further reading

External links