Celebrating Linguistic Diversity or accepting an `English-Only ’ Europe?

One of the `fundamental rights ’ of the European Union (EU) is `respect for linguistic diversity’. This diversity is celebrated as a major element of a `European identity ’ and is perceived as conforming to the confederal EU concept of seeking `Unity in Diversity’. To a remarkable extent the EU puts this principle of respect for linguistic diversity into practice; thus, Maltese and Irish (spoken by relatively few people who generally speak English as well in bilingual states) are legally recognised as `official ’ and `working ’ languages of the EU. The EU also proclaims ambitious aims to create a multilingual EU citizenry within which everyone would be able to speak `at least ’ two languages in addition to their mother-tongue. However, such ambitions confront the geolinguistic reality that English becomes increasingly dominant as the second language of continental Europeans, while the learning of foreign languages continues its steep decline in the United Kingdom. Moreover, notwithstanding its 23 official de jure languages, English is now, de facto, the dominant `working language’ within the EU. Some welcome this trend and advocate that English is officially adopted as the EU’s common (not single) transnational language. However others fear that this will lead t