Angry Chirac leaves EU summit as Frenchman speaks English.

Quelle horreur! Un francais parle l'anglais! Zut alors!

Chirac leaves summit as Frenchman speaks English
Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:53 PM GMT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac briefly walked out of a European Union summit on Thursday when the French head of the EU's industry lobby addressed leaders of the bloc in English.

A French official said Chirac, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and Finance Minister Thierry Breton left the room when Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, head of the UNICE business lobby, began speaking in "the language of business" at a summit session with the EU's so-called social partners -- employers and unions.

He missed the former head of the French employers' body urging the leaders to "resist national protectionism in order to avoid a negative domino effect" in the EU's internal market -- a veiled criticism of France and others who have sought to block cross-border takeovers.

Chirac returned after Seilliere had finished to hear another Frenchman, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, addressing the leaders in French.

Trichet, a former Bank of France governor, almost always speaks English at the Frankfurt-based ECB.

English, French and German are the working languages of the 25-nation bloc which has no single official language. All 20 languages of the member states are used at summits, ministerial meetings and in the European Parliament.

French once dominated the EU, but English has overtaken it since the bloc expanded to take in Nordic countries in the 1990s and east European members in 2004.

Paris has fought a rearguard battle to preserve French as a main working language in Brussels, sparing no expense to offer free or heavily subsidised language courses to officials and diplomats from the new member states as well as journalists.

today.reuters.co.uk . . .

Adam, pardon my French because I am writing it first time albeit courtesy of google language tools.


Adam, pourquoi avez-vous un tel odium contre le Français? Votre ancienne petite amie était-elle française qui était la course étaient-elles loin avec l'petit ami américain? C'est la seule raison je bidon de votre hateredness déjeté contre la langue anglaise et française américaine? Je sais que l'infact que chacun sait que l'anglais britannique est la langue la plus correcte et les orateurs britanniques sont les seuls orateurs corrects de la langue mais dans l'intéret de Dieu votre commente anti contre ces deux obtiennent alésés et tends au stirp vers le haut d'un combat entre d'autres ressortissants sur le forum. Veuillez le donner vers le haut et essayez le somethign nouveau et constructif! Adios!

Adam, l'anglais n'est pas le langage de gestion, et c'est un fait. Il était juste marcher Chirac loin de la salle.

...google...language...tools...translation...goodgrief! :-p

LOL @boy's use of Google!

essayez le somethign else

Adam my dearest, you still didnt answer my question:

“Dieu et mon droit “ motto of the British monarch !

WHY ?

Shall the queen and all the Brits monarch walk away ? because of the FRENCH motto.

Quelle horreur! FRENCH has the highest rank in the UK !

Adam check your passport ! It sais :Dieu et mon droit ! LOL !

Spoilt brat Chirac throws his toys out of his pram yet again. What a loser.

don't you think chriac was being passionate about french. maybe he was trying to defend french. why do many people say chirac is bad?

Personally, I think Chirac has gone a step too far!!

French is far from being a dying language. It's a wonderful tongue and it's perfectly all right to protect it, but there's really no need to get all uppity when you hear your countrymen speaking English, is there?

It's understandable when the Quebecois stand up for French: they're a minority in a country dominated by English speakers. But when you're a president of over 55 million French-speaking people...and one of them suddenly decides to give a speech in English, you're only making yourself laughing stock by throwing a huffy fit.

(Now, I don't mean to back up Adam, the forum fool/bigot. I disagree with every iota of Adam's ideology, but Chirac seems to be equally laughable at the present moment :-p.)

The guy is an anglophobe, pure and simple. He hates anyone and anything English, including the English tongue. He proved that when he made childish comments about English food. How someone with such a kindergarten mentality made it in politics I will never know. As for him making himself a laughing stock, that is something he needs no help with whatsoever. He does a perfectly good job of that all by himself.

>He proved that when he made childish comments about English food<

sorry mate, not just Chirac commented that way, All the world knows about British cuisine being the worst cuisine in the world !

What can be described as purely English cuisine? I can't think of anything other than chips and I don't know if that was originaly an English "invention".

Alicia : nous sommes 63 millions.

Je pense que l'incartade de Chirac était à usage interne avant tout. Il tente de redorer son blason pour mieux sortir de la l'affrontement lié au CPE (contrat première embauche).

L'homme est exaspéré et sort en claquant la porte, pas très classe franchement...c'est une réaction basique qui manque d'esprit et surement de levier pour changer tant soit peu l'état des choses.
Et en plus c'était certainement prémédité! La grande réplique calculé à cette langue envahissante, ça fait puéril un peu non? Des grands monsieurs importants, chefs et représentants du peuple qui quittent en colère parce qu'on leur addresse la parole dans une langue qui les dérange, au Québec je comprendrais, mais en France????

Anyone who thinks British cuisine is the worst in the world has clearly never dined in one of the many, many excellent restaurants in London and the Home Counties.