José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, is facing a rebellion in Brussels after Italian and Spanish were quietly downgraded as working languages of the European Union.
The revolt, led by members of the European Parliament and journalists, began when the European Commission decided to use only English, French and German in some news conferences because of a lack of translation resources as well as a stated desire for efficiency.
But Barroso underestimated national sensitivities and a diplomatic row has erupted that prompted the Italian and Spanish governments this week to write letters to Barroso demanding that their languages be taken more seriously.
This reflects the difficulties of constructing the European project, which has become a Babel of 20 languages following enlargement from 15 to 25 countries last May.
The dispute, which has escalated over the past few weeks, is about national sensitivities and pride about countries' standing in the European Union. It has played on fears that smaller countries are increasingly losing out to the three dominant nations in the EU - Britain, Germany and France.
It shows that while Europeans are willing to merge their currencies in the euro and concede other sovereign powers to Brussels, they are not willing to give up their language.
The dispute started when journalists noticed that Spanish and Italian had been dropped during news conferences and that German had taken their place.
The newspaper Corriere della Sera began a campaign, including front-page editorials declaring that Italy's national identity was being denied
The campaign, which drew widespread public support in Italy, forced Gianfranco Fini, Italy's foreign minister, to write to the newspaper that he would fight to defend the language.
The Italian ambassador has also complained that none of the spokesmen for the EU's 25 commissioners are Italian.
After a press conference Thursday, Barroso, a Portuguese, held an emergency meeting with about 30 Spanish and Italian journalists to soothe tempers and reassure them that their languages were being taken seriously.
"He told us he was not going to discriminate against Italian or Spanish," said a journalist at the meeting. "He said the next time he goes to the press room, he is going to speak Italian."
The problem has taken on such proportions that ambassadors from all 25 countries will discuss it in their main weekly meeting in Brussels on Friday.
The issue has transferred to the European Parliament, where some Italian members have threatened to go on strike if speeches or documents are not translated into Italian.
Members of Fini's party in Parliament have demanded that the foreign minister raise the issue at the European summit meeting next month.
The outcry led Franco Frattini, the European commissioner for justice and home affairs and an Italian, to promise that from now on he would hold press conferences in Italian. He put the pledge into action Thursday.
The subject of language is delicate in Brussels, where speeches often have to be repeated two or three times, press releases are issued in triplicate and earphones are a necessary accessory in meetings and conferences.
The French have long defended their language as Brussels' first tongue, even though it has been gradually usurped by English.
Recently, German has come to be used more frequently. It was this that apparently irked the Italians.
"German was upgraded and Spanish and Italian have gone from being always there to being almost disappeared," said Enrico Brivio, a correspondent in Brussels for Il Sole 24 Ore. "The point is, we were not consulted first."
Barroso's office promised Thursday to act soon to solve the diplomatic standoff.
"It seemed a reasonable solution to save taxpayers money," said Françoise Le Bail, Barroso's spokesman. "But we have to accept that this linguistic issue is a matter of national pride. We will look at it again."
- Via International Herald Tribune