| Series Title | European Voice |
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| Series Details | 21/03/96, Volume 2, Number 12 |
| Publication Date | 21/03/1996 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 21/03/1996 Jacques Santer has run into a language problem. Not personally, because he is already pretty competent in several tongues, including Euro-speak. No, the trouble comes from Flemish MEPs who are furious that the Commission is discriminating against them. How? By using only French-language street names for addresses in Brussels in its correspondence. Commissioners are in trouble for omitting the Flemish versions on their headed notepaper. Not only that, complain the MEPs, Commission answering machines only function in French, English and German. Santer has responded that all staff have been told not to overlook their linguistic obligations (whatever that means). And before things get too out of hand, he has made it clear that answering machines cannot give out messages in all EU languages for technical reasons. Linguistic ideology is all very well, he told the grumpy Flemish MEPs in a parliamentary written answer, but if every language was included before callers got to the beep, the messages would simply go on for ever. |
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| Subject Categories | Culture, Education and Research |
| Countries / Regions | Belgium |
