Chirac snubs EU summit as countryman speaks English

Chirac snubs EU summit as countryman speaks English
GEOFF MEADE

THE French president, Jacques Chirac, stormed out of an EU summit in Brussels last night because a fellow Frenchman chose to speak English and said it was Europe's language of business.

The row hit the opening session of the meeting as EU leaders sat down for talks on jobs and economic growth with European trade union and business bosses.

As usual interpreters were on hand, and everyone was free to speak in their own language if they wished.

But when Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, the French president of UNICE, the employers' organisation, announced to the gathering that he would be addressing the meeting in English "because that is the accepted business language of Europe today", the president appeared to lose his cool and he and three of his ministers left the room.

Summit officials said the trio returned to the meeting only when Mr Chirac heard that Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European Central Bank, had started to speak in French.

http://tinyurl.com/jkzml Scotsman

I just love articles like this. It's nice to see that some things never change and tradition does survive in regards to the Frogs.