Approaches to Dealing with Multiple Languages in the European Union: Could Esperanto be the Next Euro?

Currently the European Union has twelve official languages, and as new countries are added to the European Union, the number of official languages will increase. Through the Economic and Monetary Union, the European Union addressed the issue of multiple currencies in the union by adopting a single new currency. Could the adoption of a single language, such as Esperanto, as the official language of the European Union be as widely accepted in the European Union as the euro is in the Economic and Monetary Union? Through an analysis of historical precedents within the European Union, this paper explores the guarantee of national culture through language in the European Union. It concludes that the adoption of any one language would limit transparency and thus democracy in the European Union, contrary to the example of the adoption of the single currency which has enhanced transparency in the monetary union