A ‘one-language’ EU policy would foster elitism and hit disproportionately the least advantaged

In an increasingly anglo-centric world, is multilingualism still needed in the European Union? The answer is a resounding yes, according to a study by Michele Gazzola. Analysing Eurostat data, he finds that making English the only official language of the EU would exclude approximately four out of five EU citizens from having a deep understanding of official information. This would in turn foster inequality in the access to EU tenders, and likely end up further fuelling Euroscepticism. As he argues, the 0.0087% of the EU’s GDP invested in multilingualism is a price well worth paying to ensure linguistic inclusion.