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Chirac flashes his arrogance again
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| trancaholic |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6032400521.html
| quote: | BRUSSELS, Belgium -- France has grudgingly made room for English as the dominant language in the European Union. But French President Jacques Chirac was not ready to hear a Frenchman speak English at the EU summit _ he walked out instead.
When top business executive Ernest-Antoine Seilliere announced to the meeting of the EU's 25 government leaders that he would "speak in English, the language of business," Chirac had heard enough.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, rear, holds the shoulders of French President Jacques Chirac during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Friday March 24, 2006. European Union leaders condemned the latest crackdown against opposition protesters by Belarusian authorities Friday, and were expected to endorse a move to slap new sanctions against top officials there for what they called
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, rear, holds the shoulders of French President Jacques Chirac during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Friday March 24, 2006. European Union leaders condemned the latest crackdown against opposition protesters by Belarusian authorities Friday, and were expected to endorse a move to slap new sanctions against top officials there for what they called "fundamentally flawed" elections.
Together with French Finance Minister Thierry Breton and Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, Chirac promptly quit the ballroom where European leaders were meeting and returned only after Frenchman Seilliere, the head of the UNICE business lobby, stopped speaking.
"We people speak in both French and English around the table in the European council and obviously a lot of business is conducted in English," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday. But he did not want to blow the incident out of proportion.
"People do get up and go for all sorts of reasons," he said.
Typically officials at EU gatherings speak in their native tongue, and their remarks are translated.
The incident occurred at the start of the two-day summit on economic issues, often pitting free marketeers from the Anglo-Saxon model against those, like the French, backing a more closely supervised economic system.
Seilliere was warning against protectionism in his speech, but French officials said Chirac's decision to leave had nothing to do with the content, only the language.
The diplomat denied that Chirac had officially left the meeting. "He didn't leave the summit, he just briefly made himself absent."
European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet, also a Frenchman, spoke in his native language.
Paris has long led a losing battle to keep French a dominating force in politics, business and diplomacy, only to see English make ever deeper inroads.
It even has to fight the tide of "Franglais" at home _ the use of English terms in the language of Moliere itself.
And the EU has bulged from six members, of which three spoke French, to 25 now, many of whom increasingly use English. Questions at the EU press briefings used to be exclusively French, now English dominates.
The EU provides plenty of guarantees for all official languages of the member states and has an army of translators to back it up.
Even if the language issue was important enough for Chirac to walk out, some barely noticed.
"That was not dramatic at all," said Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. |
:haha: |
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| CranberryJuice |
| insteresting article sören :p we know how much chirac loves the french language |
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| Sunsnail |
| what an idiot, wow |
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| trancaholic |
| quote: | Originally posted by CranberryJuice
insteresting article sören :p we know how much chirac loves the french language |
Yes, too bad that he won't be the one to pay the price for this love. But then again, it seems to be an ever popular pursuit of old people to have young people pay the price of their ideals.
Btw. Marie, what happened to your old profile? Did you decide that you were to old to be a "baby"? Or did you stop thinking yourself hot and sweet? And what's that abomination doing as your avatar? |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| Ah, so that's Marie, I've been wondering who that new french guy was.. :) |
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| St_Andrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by trancaholic
And what's that abomination doing as your avatar? |
Perhaps she wanted to have that ugly red one (symbolising that small country whatever the name is, with lots of people thinking they are funny in it) instead but was affraid that some militant Muslim extremists would eat her living? |
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| trancaholic |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
Perhaps she wanted to have that ugly red one (symbolising that small country whatever the name is, with lots of people thinking they are funny in it) instead but was affraid that some militant Muslim extremists would eat her living? |
Well, that would be a pretty stupid concern. I don't think that even militants would stoop to the level of eating other people's scholarship or salary.:p
Anyway, we're not exactly "lots" of people who think we're funny. I'd say its about one in five. But everything is relative, I guess, so for a humour challenged Swede it might be a big proportion :) |
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| CranberryJuice |
hey guys
yeah it's marie ....i thought h0tsweetbabyd0l was lame .....:( so i changed it !and yeah do u know why i put the swedish flag as avatar....because im secretly in love with St andrew hehe no:stongue: he has dervish :p no seriously it's cuz i had nothing to put as avatar and found this flag so i thought ok better than nothing imma put it :o |
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| St_Andrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by CranberryJuice
hey guys
yeah it's marie ....i thought h0tsweetbabyd0l was lame .....:( so i changed it !and yeah do u know why i put the swedish flag as avatar....because im secretly in love with St andrew hehe no:stongue: he has dervish :p no seriously it's cuz i had nothing to put as avatar and found this flag so i thought ok better than nothing imma put it :o |
Awww, c'mon we all know you love Sweden ;)
| quote: | Originally posted by trancaholic
Well, that would be a pretty stupid concern. I don't think that even militants would stoop to the level of eating other people's scholarship or salary.:p
Anyway, we're not exactly "lots" of people who think we're funny. I'd say its about one in five. But everything is relative, I guess, so for a humour challenged Swede it might be a big proportion :) |
ing smartass :p |
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| CranberryJuice |
well im not sure to love sweden i got nothing against ur country but it's too liberal for me ....if all the swedes tell the same crap than u about the CPE thats scary :nervous:
i only love sweden for the blue eyes and blond haired guys u got here :p |
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| St_Andrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by CranberryJuice
well im not sure to love sweden i got nothing against ur country but it's too liberal for me ....if all the swedes tell the same crap than u about the CPE thats scary :nervous: |
One day you might see the light too :thepirate
And Sweden isn't very liberal, apparently we ban everything that's fun!
| quote: | | i only love sweden for the blue eyes and blond haired guys u got here :p |
:D |
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| CranberryJuice |
i might see the light ....shut up !:p
oh and blue eyed and blond haired guys .....yeah that's right minus you :wtf: |
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