Newsgroups: alt.politics.ec,sci.lang
From: philip@storcomp.demon.co.uk (Phil Hunt)
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!udel!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!peernews.demon.co.uk!storcomp.demon.co.uk!philip
Subject: Re: Languages in the EC
References: <3fdf8r$gqe@nic.lth.se> <3feev2$4df@news.INbe.net> <HINSENK.95Feb2193405@cyclone.ERE.UMontreal.CA> <791833634snz@storcomp.demon.co.uk> <3h9055$sll@chleuasme.francenet.fr>
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Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 15:12:05 +0000
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In article <3h9055$sll@chleuasme.francenet.fr>
           mbonnaud@dialup.francenet.fr "Marc Bonnaud" writes:
> philip@storcomp.demon.co.uk (Phil Hunt) wrote:
> > You seem to think of "France", "Germany" etc as single monolithic entities
> > with one mind; I disagree. If you had said "the French government",
> > "the German government" etc I would be more inclined to agree with you.
> > But I do not think that this issue should be dealt with by the
> > governments of the member states: whether there is to be a common EU 
> > second language, and if so what it is should be decided by an EU-wide 
> > referendum, using STV.
> 
> Croyez-vous que le gouvenrement de sa gracieuse Majeste accepterait
> cette demarche FEDERALISTE ?

It is extrememly unlikely that the present govmt would accept it. In fact,
the Tories will try to avoid taking any decisions at all regarding the EU,
because it is impossible to please bothe the Euro-skeptics and the
Euro-enthusiasts.

But there will be a general election by 1997, when they hopefully will
be removed.
 
> > A Frenchman might well prefer English to Esperanto, particularly if he
> > knew some English; even if he did not speak English, he already knows
> > many English words because English and French are quite similar. 
> 
> Personnellement, si je devais voter, en n'ayant pas le droit de voter
> pour le francais, je choisirais l'italien.

In an STV referendum, you would put the languages in order of preference.
So your 1st choice could be French, your 2nd choice Italian, your 3rd
choice whatever...

I quite like Italian too.
 
-- 
Phil Hunt...philip@storcomp.demon.co.uk
Majority rule for Britain!
