French Set to Replace English as EUs Working Language
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So not only is the UK bottom of the leaderboard in the eurovision song contest , macron wants to change its' status as the number one language and replace french as the official “working language” of the EU
I just cannot see all the rest of the EU countries speaking french as a second language as most do English at present
Could this have anything to do with brexit ?
Non , vraiment ?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brexit-france-eu-french-english-b1861087.html
English is spoken because of the importance of the US in culture and trade nowadays. Surely if the EU was to adopt a main language it should be German as the largest country in the EU and most influential and critical to the EU. French isn't spoken that much in the world and far less important as a language than Spanish or even Portuguese which is spoken by over 200 million Brazilians. French isn't a significant language in the world today. English still makes the most sense though because when the EU deals with other countries of the world, US, UK and even China etc English will be the language they understand.
Exactly my thoughts B, spanish would be the next sensible choice, but macron is showing his arrogance yet again , not unexpected with the french , and just confirms he wants to keep punishing the UK for Brexit
Its the same with the illegal immigrants coming over from france, they are even assisting them now to get to the UK , knowning the economic chaos it will cause
Maybe he has been taking one of napoleons quotes literally
Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them
telmel Yes he doesn't seem to like us despite having a part English heritage. France has much of the same problems as the UK, high public sector debt and a very poor net international investment position with a huge asset deficit. Just like the UK, France has huge amounts of debts to pay which will take many decades to pay back when they start doing so but at the moment they are still heavily borrowing. The only real difference is we are out of the EU and they are in.
France is a fantastic country though and I wish them well although I tend to annoy them a lot as I detest wine and say its a waste of good grapes which they don't appreciate.
BonzoBanana Maybe he is also annoyed with the UK as we are producing our own wines now
We are even selling it to them
Heres a newspaper article from last year
English is wine so good, even the French are buying it
BRITAIN'S wine business is booming! Even as recently as 10 years ago English and, to a lesser extent, Welsh wine (it's still too cold to grow grapes in Scotland and Northern Ireland) - wasn't taken seriously
Fast forward a decade, and our wines are growing an international reputation, with more than 500 commercial vineyards across England and Wales. A staggering million new vines have been planted every year since 2017 in terroir (natural environment) and geology almost identical to that of France’s Champagne region. The boom has been driven mainly by English sparkling wine. Some four million bottles are produced every year and one forecast suggests output will grow to an astonishing 30 million bottles annually by 2050. Wine industry expert Patrick McGrath, of premium wine agents Hatch Mansfield, explains: “We’ve seen an industry transformed. Over the last 15 years, it’s been getting warmer and our summers are becoming drier. The further east you go, the warmer and drier it is.”
Growing conditions in south-east England – predominantly Kent and Sussex – are now so good for producing sparkling wines that houses like Taittinger and Pommery have invested in land.
Hatch Mansfield has teamed up with Taittinger as the UK partner to help the French Champagne house become the first to plant vineyards in England. They have planted 40 hectares in Kent which, by 2024, will be producing Domaine Evremond sparkling English wine
The benefits of our wine boom to the nation – not to say the Exchequer, in tax receipts – are enormous.
Having quit the rat race and begun winemaking in France 18 years ago, Ruth and Charles Simpson, 48 and 50, pictured left, started SimpsonsWine Estate in Barham, near Canterbury, Kent.
Their UK business came about when they were looking for a new challenge.
Charles explains: "The geology in Kent is identical to Burgundy or Champagne which produce some of the world's most-coveted wines. Kent's one of the warmest parts of the UK, it's known as the 'Garden of England' because everything grows so well.
"We found 90 acres of land on the chalk downs just south of Canterbury and, in 2014, we began to plant it with chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. Not only can they make sparkling wine which was the goal but also still wine.
"We didn't really think it was warm enough to make decent still wines but we proved ourselves wrong. Our first harvest was in 2016 and we made a tiny amount of still wine, the rest went into sparkling. But the chemistry was right. In 2017 we repeated the exercise, and, finally, in 2018 we said, 'This is no longer a fluke but a trend' and since then, a third of our production goes into still wines."
In 2018-2019 the couple produced 200,000 bottles - half the output of their French winery - but they are aiming towards 300,000 a year. "The UK consumer will always be sympathetic to home grown produce," says Charles. "We all want to eat and drink locally."
But they export successfully, to Norway, Sweden and Canada among others.
By MATT NIXON, EXPRESS DRINKS COLUMNIST
PUBLISHED: 09:51, Fri, Dec 18, 2020 | UPDATED: 15:42, Fri, Dec 18, 2020
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