A few months back, a group of European Officials wrote to President Von der Leyen to defend the use of French language within the Institution.

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At our level, and for several months now, we regularly receive messages from unsatisfied colleagues concerning the balance of the three official working languages, and in particular the near-disappearance of the use of French language in all internal documents.

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Most of the publications posted in the FR and DE Intracomm pages remain in English as if they were only addressed to English-speaking colleagues. Has the Commission forgotten that the working languages have always been, and still are French, English and German? In addition, most of the Commission services have their headquarters in Belgium, of which the official languages are French, Dutch and German….not English.

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Most of the working documents available to services on BUDGWEB, such as contractual and financial models, are in English as if all the contractors we collaborate with are all English-speaking.

However, this situation is particularly unpleasant when it comes to the official safety related communications in regards to the Coronavirus crisis. Many of our colleagues who lack English knowledge feel discriminated by this approach.

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TAO-AFI, whose role is to represent and defend the interests of all staff, will raise this issue with the administration.