Dialectical Anthropology 27: 249268, 2003.

249
2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

The Role of Language in Nation-Building within the European

Union

ALEXANDER CAVIEDES
Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
(E-mail: Caviedes@polisci.wisc.edu)

Abstract. Europe is home to a vast array of indigenous languages, not to mention numerous
immigrant languages. European Union (EU) acknowledgement of national languages as
official languages results in a privileged status for these languages vis--vis the minority
languages with which they cohabit. This support prevents hegemony by a single language
such as English, yet the EU simultaneously undermines these national languages domestically
by promoting their minority language competitors. This paradox can only be understood by
examining the developing model for European identity whereby identity is viewed as variable
and multi-faceted, rooted in multilingual facility and the absence of a single, monolithic source
of identity. If the project of creating a European identity is viewed as nation-building, it is
central to consider how the issue of language diversity is addressed at the European level. The
paper begins by discussing the concept of national identity and the central role that language
plays in its determination, as well as what modern conceptions of language planning bring
to this process. After exploring the European language terrain, the paper considers whether
the EU can even be said to have a language policy. The discussion focuses on multilingual
education programs, the treatment of minority languages, and the issue of languages spoken
by immigrant populations. Having presented these conceptual tools and policy surveys, an
analytical framework is introduced that situates the nation-building process in relation to the
creation of a common European identity.

I. Introduction

The European Union (EU) makes an interesting object for study thanks to
the duality of its nature. Is it merely a supranational organization that recon-
figures the interests and economic paths of the member states along a single
guideline, or are we actually witnessing the slow yet deliberate progression
toward an actual European state? While some students of European integra-
tion postulate the creation of the latter, the truth is that the keys to the EU
are still held in the hands of the member states to a large degree. Even in
areas where the member states have ceded pockets of authority to the EU, the
Union carefully avoids diminishing the visibility and identity of the individual
nations. Nevertheless, there are developments toward creating a European
identity. This project is referred to by some as nation-forming, and if that is
truly what is occurring, it is appropriate to ask how the question of language
250 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

diversity is addressed at the EU level, since language generally plays a central

role in determining the character of a national identity. This paper seeks
to shed some light on the nature of this new European identity through an
examination of the language policy of the EU.
Part II discusses the concept of national identity and the central role
that language plays in determining its nature, as well as what the modern
conception of language planning brings to this process. After exploring the
language terrain within the EU in Part III, Part IV will answer the question
of whether the EU can even be said to have a language policy. In partic-
ular, discussion focuses on multilingual education programs, the treatment of
minority languages, and the issue of languages spoken by immigrant popula-
tions. With these conceptual tools and factual information in hand, Part V
concludes by attempting to construct an analytical framework for concep-
tualizing the nation-building process as it is taking place with regard to a
common European identity within the European Union.

II. Nation-building and the role of language

A. National identity

The concept of nation is a frequently debated one, but a good starting point
would be to describe it as a human collectivity defining itself as historically
constituted or desired, where that notion makes some claim to autonomy.
While many of the components of national identity, such as religion, language
and symbols, may be older than history, the notion of the nation emerged
in the eighteenth century in Western Europe, where specifically ethnically
defined communities developed around already existing kingdoms or cultures
to form nation-states. As we are speaking about Europe, we will use this
model, even though there are alternative paths leading to the formation of
nations that center around the contrasting colonial experience and its reaction
to colonials or the home nations. Key to a conception of nation is the notion
of identity as a source of symbols and legitimacy for mobilization toward
the task of nation-building. Whether one is predisposed to a primordial or
constructivist explanatory framework of identity formation, each approach
shares the view that culture, language, and religion have historically been the
central components of national identity.

B. Language and nation-building

The survival of a nation and the success of its drive towards nation-state status
are predicated upon the existence of a language that its people can speak,
and more importantly, read and write. While it is important to be able to
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 251

communicate effectively within the modern nation-state, even more crucial

to the manifestation of identity is the demarcation and boundary function
which language can play.1 While primordialists might focus upon the innate
confluence between the nature of a language and the character of the people
who speak it, constructivists are more wont to point out that identification
is taught and developed through the presence of a common language, and in
Europe this unfolded once the vernacular was able to develop at a literary
level.2 The font of these language-planning endeavors was the image of
the noble and uncontaminated peasant who had managed to keep both the
language and national identity intact since the golden ages.3 This tension
between instrumental and primordial conceptions of the role of language in
nation-building has also been expressed as the difference between the enlight-
enment and romanticist legacies. The enlightenment perceived a need for a
vernacular language as a lever for challenging the educational privilege of the
nobility and clergy, while romanticism stressed the glorification of language
as a national treasure, rendering language cultivation a patriotic rather than a
social task.4
While these views either explicitly or implicitly suggest that the task
of nation-building must ground unification in one language, this is not the
reigning perception among sociolinguists. De Witte has questioned whether
Gellners insistence upon a single, uniform language to facilitate nation-
building is perhaps only valid with respect to the social and economic
evolution of the time, and that the simultaneous industrialization and nation-
formation characteristic of the eighteenth century are no longer necessary
or sufficient configurations.5 Further criticism of unitary language theory
centers on the reality that in the wake of language rationalization and unifica-
tion, there is usually not an emergence of a single pure language. Often,
numerous dialects, patois, and minority languages may continue to exist with
the advent of national integration,6 even when the program is as rigid and
homogenizing as that found in France. These critiques recognize that it is
not multilingualism per se that engenders division, but the attitudes of the
speakers and the sentiments and symbolism attached to the language. If this is
a valid comment, it should come as good news to those attempting to include
an element of multicultural tolerance within their plans of nation-building.
However, because many of the sociolinguists are dealing with cases in Africa
or South-east Asia where both resources and alternatives are few, one might
speculate whether these authors are merely selling prospective governments
on what they believe is the most just option.

C. Language planning

Language planning has been defined as a government authorized, long

term sustained and conscious effort to alter a language itself or to change
252 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

a languages functions in a society for the purpose of solving communication

problems.7 Though the endeavor usually accompanies processes of nation-
state building and consolidation, the primary purpose, as mentioned above, is
to facilitate communication within the state. This may sound like an apolit-
ical aspiration, but it carries with it several consequences that are likely to
bring about conflict. The rationalization process usually involves territorial
specification of a common language for the purpose of efficient administra-
tion and rule and often results in a condition of linguistic hegemony where the
language of the center replaces local languages not only for official purposes,
but for normal interchange.8 Language planning begins with corpus plan-
ning, or the creation of new forms, modification of old ones, or the selection
of alternative forms of language, which is the technical side of the enter-
prise. More importantly, language planners must also consider the potential
effects of status planning, or the allocation of languages to certain functions.9
Certain choices may effectively disallow some groups from learning or using
a language, or they may require certain languages as prerequisites for access
to employment, licensing, court access, etc. As such, language can become
either an instrument of participation, access or deprivation, in that it can
alter existing relationships of power between different groups within the
polity. Language policy cannot be blind to this fact, and the debate over
how language planning is best effectuated usually alternates around issues
of corpus planning and administration on one side, and the political effects
of status planning on the other. It is also this second dimension which most
pertinent for addressing the deprivations to culture and identity that can inad-
vertently or consciously be brought about through a language policy that
values efficiency over democracy, equality and self-determination.

III. The European Unions language terrain

A. Approaching babel?

Though it is home to around 58 autochthonous languages,10 there are only

eleven officially recognized languages within the EU: Danish, Dutch, Eng-
lish, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and
Swedish. This means that all EU legislation must be published in all the
member states official languages, because it is in effect also national law.
To prevent member states from adopting their own translations that might
diverge and deprive EU citizens from equal protection, it becomes neces-
sary for the EU itself to become the final arbiter of what a law means.
This also allows member states and individuals to draft their correspondence
to European institutions in any of these eleven official languages with the
assurance that the reply will be written in the same language.11
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 253

This policy results from a Council of Ministers regulation from 1958,

stipulating that Dutch, French, German and Italian were the official and
working languages of the European Economic Community (EC) institutions.
Accompanying successive Community and Union enlargements, the regula-
tion has been amended to include the current eleven languages. Since they
all have the same status in that translating and interpreting from each
should be occurring into the other ten there are at present 110 language
pairs, or dyads, existing within the EU. What is truly staggering is that the
contemplated first round of Eastern expansion (which will happen once the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia
are accorded membership) would treble the number of dyads, up to 342!12
While this is a large number, the cost currently associated with the adminis-
tration of translation and interpretation services comes to only 5% of the EU
budget.13 More daunting than the financial costs are the mere logistics behind
such an undertaking housing such a large number of language professionals
would require new buildings with assembly halls the size of football stadiums.
Given the pretensions of the EU to continue expansion in the new millennium
perhaps until it encompasses all of continental Europe new debates have
sprung up addressing whether the EU should reconsider its language policy
before the situation becomes unmanageable.

B. De facto official languages

French was the original working language within the institutions of the EU.
This is only natural given that Brussels, Luxembourg, and Strasbourg all lie in
French-speaking territory. However, since the UK and Ireland joined the EC
in 1973, English has also become a working language within the institutions.
A recent study of language use within the European Commission showed
that English was used in 47% of oral communication within the Commission,
while French was used only 38% of the time. For written communica-
tion within the Commission English outdistanced French 49 to 45%, while
external communications were 54% English and only 35% French.14 This
confirms the effect that still derives through location, as the greatest differ-
ence is found where the receiving parties communicating were not necessarily
located in a French-speaking locale. Though French and English are the
dominant languages, German also comes in a poor third, used occasionally
within informal committee discussions (depending on the particular constel-
lation of its membership), even though translators of all the official languages
are present.15
Even francophones recognize the inroads made by English, so policy initi-
atives emanating from France are more concerned with retaining co-equal
status with English than actually elevating French back into primacy. There-
fore, France has forwarded proposals on the European level that solicit aid for
254 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

languages used in their particular area.16 As egalitarian as this might sound,

it is aimed primarily at preventing English language hegemony. Regardless,
outside the EC institutions, English is even more prevalent, especially in
second language education, as well as in the media, trade, technology and
science. For example, Estonia, where the ruling class spoke German for over a
millennium, and continued to do so under Soviet rule, now recognizes English
as the most important language for foreign business contacts, even when the
majority of these contacts are still with Germans.17 The Germans themselves,
with the largest group of native speakers within the EC and its most powerful
economy, have been far more subdued in their language demands. There have
been initiatives trying to establish German as one of only three real working
languages, but the timbre of these demands, as evidenced in the following
comments of the German Ambassador in the UK, belies luke-warm inten-
tions: We feel that languages that are spoken by a great number of people
in Europe should also be considered in this context, but we are in no way
pressing for this.18 By quietly opting for English they not only sublimate
their own position, but also erode the previous linguistic primacy of their
French rivals.19 The most bitter irony to the French must be that the British
do not even actively promote English within the EU. Part of the appeal behind
the use of English is its pluricentric character, which gives it a de-ethnicized
and culturally-unbounded quality that allows speakers to use it without auto-
matically identifying with one nation.20 This is true to a large extent because
the media and commercial power of the United States plays a huge part in
enhancing the popularity of the English language, and this is not a function
of any British linguistic imperialism within the EU. This failure to pursue
linguistic hegemony does not alter the fact the language repertoire of over
75% of multilingual speakers in Western Europe includes English.21
The opinion of one commentator reflects the multilingual mentality of the
EU with regard to official languages: viewed holistically, the EU is comprised
of cultural and linguistic minorities, so there is no one national (or pan-
national) people, culture or language, and there can never be one.22 Even
artificial languages like Esperanto cannot claim to be universally conceptu-
alized or organic, and cannot fill the role of unitary language,23 though the
idea is frequently raised.24 The trend toward monolingualism will continue
unless measures are put into place that provide for multilingual administration
with a manageable number of working languages.25 For this reason, there
is frequent advocacy for a minimum number of working languages, but even
such opinions do not stray from the central caveat that all languages should
still remain usable.26 Such views buy into the idea that form is more important
than substance since in reality English becomes ever more hegemonic, even
in the face of laws and policies aimed at preserving equality. What does it
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 255

mean to keep all languages usable if only a small core of working languages
remain? Either one is prepared to communicate in all languages, or the desig-
nation of a few working languages will result in the exclusion of all others.
To better understand why the EU continues to hold up this multilingual front
in the face of a reality that seems to contradict it, it will first be necessary to
review its policy and subsequently, the nature of the ideology behind it.

IV. European Union language policy

A. Is there a language policy?

While some EU policy addresses linguistic matters, in keeping with the

general pattern of European integration, there is no clearly discernable
uniform policy. Policy develops in an ad hoc manner that allows for an
incremental progression that attempts to stave off conflict before a situation
becomes too intransigent. Within EU institutions the previously mentioned
Regulation no.1 makes all the official languages of the member states the
official languages of the EU. Even if all the other states were willing to limit
the official working language to English, the French have made it abund-
antly clear that they would block any attempts to unseat French within the
institutions.27 This type of attitude only elicits similar blocking maneuvers
by the other governments who are not about to allow a special dispensation
for the French. Not only is there a spirit of intransigence on behalf of the
member states, but even within some of the institutions, most notably the
European Parliament (EP), have repeatedly come out in favor of preserving
multilingualism. This should not be surprising as the EP is supposedly the
democratic forum that exists to represent the interests of the people and not
only the member states.
Multicultural or pluralist language policies seek recognized participation
of minority languages. One scheme for arranging this would be along regional
lines such as those found in consociationalism, where non-discrimination
is achieved through territorial subdivision, federalism or multilevel arrange-
ments of political representation.28 However, the Union has adopted a socio-
cultural variant that encourages the creation of parallel institutions that are
granted equal status in the public sphere. To ensure that communication does
not suffer through such a program, the EU has focused extensively on the
promotion of bilingualism or multilingualism in education, culture and the
media.29
Language policy in the EU can be separated into three fronts: the previ-
ously discussed institutional rules, its various education and cultural policies,
and the stance towards minority languages. Within the EU as a whole,
256 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

Article 290 of the Treaty offers protection by prohibiting discrimination based

upon language. This law is regarded as being fairly firmly in place, as it can
only be amended through unanimous decision,30 and, as mentioned above,
there is at least one nation that will always wield its veto in protection of its
mother tongue. Therefore, this staunch pledge of support for multiple official
languages, when viewed along with the other two policy areas, yields a fairly
accurate picture of the complex and at times contradictory image that the
European Union is trying to project and develop with regard to a European
identity. Examining the policies individually, we will attempt to uncover what
manner of European nationalism is being created and whether it can even be
termed as such.

B. Language and cultural policy

Though our primary focus is on language, it is also necessary to appreciate

that because language is the major component of what is commonly iden-
tified as culture, many provisions couched in terms of cultural policy have
a largely or predominantly linguistic nature. The EU has recognized that
cultural measures are required to make people more aware of their European
identity.31 Beyond the creation of various European Union cultural awards,
there has been even greater emphasis on broadening commonality through
the education process. If one is intent on creating a common identity, key
requisites are common education programs and the utilization of language
as the prime integrator.32 The LINGUA program pursues the diversification
of foreign languages offered in training and educational programs rather
than promoting one or two priority languages.33 Erasmus is an international
exchange program between universities meant to foster international under-
standing as well as multilingualism. At the moment the program is still
subject to criticism as only 1.5% of all university students participate.34
However, the EU has responded to other charges that the program is elitist
since it only works at the level of a certain social and academic strata, through
the introduction of further programs such as Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci,
which are targeted at vocational trainees and high school students.35 This is
an attempt to ensure that foreign language proficiency is not reserved for an
elite or those who acquire it on account of their geographic mobility.
The newest and most illuminating policy trajectory emanating from the
Commission is a tacit recognition of the dominant position of English within
Europe. Even when people are encouraged to diversify their language reper-
toires, the odds are that the second language they choose to learn will be
English.36 To prevent this tendency from stifling those initiatives that promote
the learning of other languages and cultures, the Commission has identified
the need for European citizens to be conversant in three languages. In a 1997
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 257

White Book from DG XXII, it announced the intention to launch education

initiatives within the member states that contemplate the instruction of one
language at the beginning of high school, followed by one more after a couple
of years.37 Since it is already part of the Common Foreign Policy of the EU
to encourage speaking the languages of third countries when dealing with
them directly,38 this principle is merely being turned inwards by encouraging
communication with native speakers within the EU in their native tongues
when present upon their soil. It has already been suggested by one of the
foremost commentators that English only be taught as the second foreign
language to prevent students and schools from neglecting the remaining
languages once the instrumental task of acquiring English language skills has
been completed.39 While the Commission is still soliciting input as to how
this policy will be carried out, the ambitions of the plan throw light onto the
EU conception of what it means to wield a European identity.

C. Minority languages

1. What is a minority language?

Perhaps the best illustration of the schizophrenic nature of EU policy
towards language is in the area of minority and regional languages. Minority
languages are not those small languages within the EU, such as Finnish,
which have a limited number of speakers, native or otherwise, and are
therefore marginal. Minority languages are those existing as mother tongues
among a sizeable population within the member states, but which are not the
official languages of those particular member states. Frisian, Basque, Welsh
and Catalan are among the more prominent languages falling under this
rubric. The EU has realized that by failing to acknowledge and cultivate these
languages the EU contributes to their continued marginalization. By dealing
with member states solely through the official languages of the EU, the EU
in effect props up that official language to the exclusion of the minority
language. The curious effect of this commitment to multilingualism, when
multiplied throughout all the EU, is to propagate monolingualism in each
individual country by focusing on a national language.40
While there is no suggestion that all these minority and regional languages
should be made official, there is a recognition that steps must be taken to
preserve and strengthen these cultural and linguistic traditions. While the EU
had already devoted a part of its resources towards promoting the develop-
ment of official languages as vessels of domestic culture, this money funnels
to the national governments. It is dubious whether they would take steps
to support minority languages that effectively undermine the authority of
the national languages, especially if they find it necessary to build up the
national language vis--vis fellow EU national language competitors. France
258 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

does not even acknowledge the presence of any minority languages within
the country because this would go against Article 2 of the Constitution that
prohibits differentiation between citizens on the grounds of their origin, race
or religion.41 What may not exist does not exist, so France does not contain
any identifiable, self-contained minorities to whom any recognition could
flow on the basis of their linguistic identity.
What is required in response to such national policies as these are mea-
sures that circumvent the arbitrary policy inclinations of the member states
by dealing directly with language minorities at the regional level. Of course,
such a policy itself can be faulted for being an arbitrary policy. Why is it that
Finnish, a language with less than 5 million speakers, is considered an official
language while Catalan, with 57 million speakers, will still be relegated
to minority language status?42 The rubric of minority language is meant to
delineate a relational status in which the language in question is a minority
vis--vis a majority language within the state.43 However, if the EU is creating
an entity within which all citizens are equal, why should national status
matter? If limitations on the designation of official language rest upon consid-
erations of efficiency, Occitan with its 9.512 million speakers44 should rank
ahead of some of the smaller national languages.

2. The European Charter for Regional Languages

A major initiative in this direction is the European Charter for Regional
Languages of 1992, which creates a system of relationships between
signatory countries and their constituent linguistic minorities. It stipulates
rights of access to education, judicial/administrative authorities and public
services, media, economic and social life, and cultural activities and facilities
for speakers of such languages. Parties are required to submit written reports
documenting their efforts, which are then reviewed by a committee of experts
appointed by the Council. However, the Charter expressly does not specify
which European languages correspond to the concept of regional or minority
languages. While the explanatory report puts this down to the inability to
conclusively decide at what level a language officially should be treated as
regional or minority, it is probably also because, to entertain any hope of
being signed, there would have to be a tacit silence which preserves the power
to decide when measures may be appropriate in the hands of the member
states. Even worded as it is, France refused to sign.45 At least this was based
upon French honesty that, because they would not acknowledge the presence
of minority languages, the point would be moot. It also highlights that the
degree of protection the Charter provides is limited to the good graces of
the member states in its application. For this reason it is difficult to attribute
more than a symbolic effect to the document, especially since it is only an
intergovernmental agreement and not actual Community law.
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 259

3. The Bureau for Lesser Used Languages

A more effective measure for protecting minority languages is the Bureau for
Lesser Used Languages within the European Community itself. Established
in Dublin in 1982, the Bureau is primarily a distributor of funds to worthy
cultural and educational projects that promote the development and retention
of minority and regional languages. The Bureau is also responsible for study
and research into the status of minority languages within the member states,
and has adopted something of an ombudsman role for itself on behalf of
these languages. At the Intergovernmental Conference of 1996, in Brussels,
the Secretary General of the Bureau, Donall O Riagain, proposed several
additions to the Maastricht Treaty to recognize and expand the rights of
citizens of the Union in all their diversity and rich linguistic and cultural
heritage. Moreover, he made a plea for a new Commission Green Paper
discussing a European language policy. The effectiveness of the Bureau is
limited by its modest budget, and the fact that though roughly 10% of all EU
citizens speak regional or minority languages, they still receive substantially
less financial support, proportionally, than those fortunate enough to speak an
official language, who can take advantage of a plethora of programs.46
A further interesting role for the Bureau has been suggested. A point of
friction between the EU and multiple languages is the principle of free move-
ment, that has led to the development of laws and policies to prevent member
states from framing measures having the same effect as quantitative restric-
tions as provisions in which the state has a national interest. Health provisions
such as the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot have been struck down for being little
more than disguised import restrictions. At what point can language-based
regulation and restrictions be challenged? Until now, the European Court of
Justice has been careful to side with national laws, cautious of tampering
with the linguistic and cultural integrity of the member states, even when
these provisions appear to constitute restraints of trade.47 To ensure that the
EU continues to give preference to the defense of its cultural and linguistic
heritage, the Bureau could well be employed as an advisory body to the EU
in the formulation and control of language policy vis--vis the interest of
preserving the common market.48

4. Dissenting voices
Not all EU commentators are convinced that the lesser languages even require
protection. Is the lack of integrated EU language policy supporting evidence
for a view which questions the idea of language planning on the grounds that
languages look after themselves?49 Forcing speakers of minority languages
to communicate in a foreign language places them at a disadvantage vis--vis
someone operating in their native tongue, but they also gain a bargaining edge
by having made the concession to work in that language. This is very much
260 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

a classical economics adage that if you are buying, you do so in your own
language, but if you are selling you will switch to the customers language.50
However, this view does not take into account the psychological advantage
gained by forcing someone to submit to the power of ones language, nor
does it appreciate that some markets may be so minor that it will not be worth
learning their language to reach such a limited clientele.
Another view albeit one that envisions an active role for language plan-
ning which fails to predict further deterioration of minority languages with
the development of a single lingua franca is Laitins 21, which he origin-
ally developed in Language Repertoires. He feels that Europeans will need
to be able to speak their national language and the lingua franca (English),
as well as possibly a local vernacular if it is distinct from the national
language. English speakers can get by with only their mother tongue. He
holds that minority languages will be strengthened through their dealings
with the EU and its eurocrats. National bureaucrats seek to preserve their
national languages official status in the face of English hegemony, but such
support will only be forthcoming if the governments also promise to promote
and protect vernaculars.51 Laitin utilizes rational choice theory to support
the stability of the 21 structure, so one should note that this is a further
commentator basing his argument upon liberal economic theory. Whether
the market place truly can protect minorities as well as they believe is
questionable.

5. Warning for the future

The potential for minority languages problems is highlighted in the cases
of Gaelic and Welsh. While Gaelic was important for Irish national feeling
before independence, its role in society and politics has declined. Meanwhile,
the revival of Welsh since the 1960s may be due to the fact that Wales is not
politically independent. If this is a valid correlation, it warns that the language
issue will have to be treated with great care in a Europe where the member
states are incrementally giving up larger chunks of their sovereignty.52 The
continued recognition of national language privileges on the one hand, and
support and cultivation of regional languages on the other hand, puts the EU
in the dangerous and volatile position of not only taking away sovereignty
from above, but facilitating the regions to slice it away from below. One can
only hope that by allowing these two contrary policies to build up momentum,
the Union is not setting the stage for domestic confrontations that it would be
provoking itself.

D. Immigrant language issues

One of the relevant groups that have nevertheless been left out of the debate
with regard to minority languages are immigrants from non-union third
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 261

countries. It is ironic that population influxes from former colonies and

labor migration have produced colorful and multilingual societies in the
very countries where the idea of the linguistically homogenous nation state
originated.53 While EU law prohibits discrimination on the basis of language,
and many educational initiatives are undertaken to promote national and
minority languages, there is no mention of those immigrants whose mother
tongue derives from outside of the EU. In the same way that there are more
speakers of some minority languages than some official EC languages, there
are 4 million Turkish speakers in Germany alone, and even greater numbers
of Arabic speakers within the EU,54 but the language rights of these groups
remains un-addressed by the policies and initiatives of the Union. Not only
are these immigrants often relegated to the lower socioeconomic classes, but
without proper language skills, immigrant children are often trapped in this
cycle, with reduced opportunities for social mobility via higher education,
which contributes to high rates of delinquency.55
The failure to properly address this problem has been aided by schol-
arly attention toward indigenous minority languages to the detriment of
immigrant languages. Though some commentators point to the difficulty in
properly assessing the situation, as the language groups are not localized in
one location,56 the real problem lies in the academic focus itself. In appre-
hension of the loss of smaller EU languages if a lingua franca is chosen,
commentators argue an inherent, equal value of all languages which is best be
preserved through strong bilingual education programs. However, languages
such as Turkish do not enter into the equation since Turkey is not an EU
member.57 Immigrant languages are not afforded access to the educational
and cultural resources set aside for minority languages, nor are they protected
from discriminatory practices under the Treaty. If the language policy of the
EU is to retain a practical dimension beyond the mere ideological function it
serves in promoting equality, future research should concentrate on the possi-
bility of spreading out the social net so that it also covers those marginalized
by the extra-EU origins of their language.

V. Nation-building around the European Union

A. Citizenship

With the advent of the Amsterdam Treaty of 1996, the EU made clear its
intention to expand the conception of the Union from one based upon an
agreement between sovereign nations to one centered about the citizenship
of individuals. Article 17 declares that every national of a member state
also becomes a citizen of the Union. While the practical effect of this is
limited to those rights conferred by the Treaty (i.e., freedom of movement
262 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

and the passive and active rights of voting in European Parliament elections),
symbolically it signifies another step toward political union.58 Nationals
of parties to international agreements or countries that are members of an
international organization do not accrue citizenship rights. By invoking the
language of citizenship, the EU is tipping its hand, exposing an intention to
achieve a status that approximates actual statehood. However, constructing a
European community as opposed to a mere common market requires a far
more concerted attempt at changing peoples image of themselves, including
their identity as nationals rather than European citizens. Another reason for
creating a European citizenry is to make use of a common identity to over-
come the problem of the EUs democratic deficit.59 The hope is that this
would enable people in the member states to identify more with the EU and its
institutions, which might assuage the Unions self-perceived lack of authority
and prestige.60 While this trend should not come as a great surprise to those
who follow the development of the EU, it does open up the question whether
the philosophy of the language policy currently pursued is appropriate to the
formation of a state.

B. Common European identity

In its incremental advance toward statehood, the EU has engaged in behavior

that has consciously paralleled the nation-building process in a number of
respects. There has been a concerted effort toward cultivating a sense of
European-ness or European identity among EU citizenry. The most overt
vehicle for creating a common identity has been the drive toward drafting
and enforcing pan-European standards in disparate fields from environmental
provisions to workers rights. While the impetus behind such measures has
been the desire to enhance efficiency by facilitating the freedom of movement
for goods, people, services, and capital, it also has the effect of creating a
greater feeling of commonality. The European Monetary Union is a good
example of this dynamic. The purpose behind economic union is to be able to
reduce transaction costs and allow for a greater control of fiscal policy within
the EU, but it will certainly have the side effect of creating one more bond of
collective identification. While this may not cut deeply into the identities of
smaller nations who operate with multiple foreign currencies, it will be felt
acutely by a country such as Germany that draws part of its post-war identity
from its strong identification with the Deutschmark. While introduction of
the Euro has not yet had this effect, once the individual national currencies
are phased out and replaced by a single common currency, there is likely to
be a substantial shift in conscious as well as subconscious identification from
nation to supranational entity.
Few visitors to Brussels can leave without feeling slightly nauseated at
the number of umbrellas, bumper stickers, pins, t-shirts, etc. that are being
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 263

peddled with the twelve star logo of the EU boldly emblazoned upon them.
While the EU works to solidify and subsidize the process of discrete nation-
making,61 the aforementioned activities can hardly be termed as discrete.
Subsidization of European contests and programs in the arts is a further
overt attempt to foster a European image. However, it has been rejected
that one can form new ideas about ones identity through artificial methods
with artificial time and content parameters. Language development, though
manipulable, is highly organic, especially when there is a degree of freedom
of decision on behalf of the public, as language planners in Africa frequently
discover to their chagrin.62 Even with its highly coercive program, the cent-
ralized projection of the Russian language on the Soviet republics did not
have the desired effect of replacing the national languages.63 Similarly, the
EU lacks the hundreds of years within which European nation-states were
consolidated. In addition, it is attempting to create identifications at a time
when the epic form of belonging, so popular before the devastation of the
two great wars of the century, has become dubious as a viable political
project.64 Therefore, what the EU needs to create is a European level of
identity and authority functioning as a type of organizational vessel that
can contain nationalist sentiments while at the same time allowing for the
enhanced expression regional identity.65

C. What is different about this European identity

Instead of using the traditional nationalist or ethnic model of identity form-

ation, the EU employs a civic one. This means that when people become
Europeans, that identity no longer revolves around categories of religion,
folk, or national defense. In the new Europe, the defining values are to center
around exchange, difference and value.66 Crucial among these three values
with respect to language policy, is difference, as it brings the element of
diversity to the fore. In the last two centuries, linguistic minorities and ethnic
groups in Europe have affirmed their particular identity and claimed their
recognition in the political sphere in reaction to the dynamics of modern
nation-building.67 In the process of nation-building, language becomes a
symbol of national belonging and a historical treasure that establishes it as
a common denominator of its citizenry. The EU recognizes that since legit-
imacy remains tied to the robustness of their languages, the member states are
engaged in a permanent competition for linguistic dominance or survival.68
Following in the steps of the sociolinguists, there is confidence that it is
not multilingualism but the attitudes of the speakers that determines whether
divisions are created. Eager to avoid conflicts that emerge among linguistic
groups in response to the new creation of the European citizen, the language
policy pursued by the EU is built upon multiculturalism and multilingualism,
thereby deviating in essential ways from the nation-state political form.
264 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

In a Europe buttressed upon individualism and freedom, there is a desire

that citizens not be forced to abandon individuality in exchange for a new
and homogenous internationality.69 This does not mean that there will not be
a new international identity for the European of the future, but merely that
it cannot be a homogenous one based upon a single hegemonic language or
culture. In particular, such language conformity would send a bad signal to
the former east bloc nations, intent on joining the EU and putting the oppres-
sion of the Soviet years behind them. Having spent half of a century under
political and cultural tyranny, the last thing they are prepared to accept is
the continuation of this type of arrangement. The transnational development
toward Europe as a single economic unit faces a fundamentally different
historic situation than the old national language unification processes of the
past.70 To actively participate in and benefit from the European Union, the
new European identity is one that requires adequate command of multiple
languages.
Given that the role of the citizen has only been institutionalized at the level
of the nation-state,71 what the Union is attempting is a radically different re-
conception of identity. What this will require is an ability to adopt different
identities and roles that do not compromise the others. As our understanding
of identity-formation becomes more dynamic, there is room for discussion of
multiple sources of identity that need not be seen as competing within a zero-
sum game. This coexistence is possible as long as the space these loyalties
and identity occupy is not identical and exclusive. For instance, Anderson
believes the concept of the nation only had the necessary room to develop
once the previously existing universal allegiance of the individual to the spir-
itual realm had been eroded. With religion no longer capable of controlling
every day life to the degree that it had throughout the middle ages, there was
a vacuum in which national identities were able to gestate.72 The trick behind
carrying out a successful program of European identification, or a successful
language policy that facilitates communication without paying the price of
strangling the smaller languages, will lie in making sure that identities and
culture are not always viewed as being in competition with one another.
Switzerland is often cited as an example of peaceful linguistic coexist-
ence within Europe, but a more appropriate case of identity surviving absent
cultivation of a single language is the case of Luxembourg an actual EU
member state. Here, the members of the community place a high value on
maintenance of the minority vernacular as an element of group identity, but
are also able to communicate in the more prevalent languages. French remains
the most common spoken language, and most written works are in German,
but Luxembourgish is not threatened in its existence by the fact that it is
limited to certain spheres of life.73 This may be the model upon which the
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 265

new Europe is based. If Luxembourg expresses a confluence of languages

and business also found within the common market, it should also be noted
that here, national identity is hardly a source of aggressive nationalism. This
should also be encouraging for the development of language policy within
the EU as it attempts to foster the creation of an identity that is common, in
that every member is European, but variable, in that individual members will
have different cultural heritages and varying language repertoires.

VI. Conclusion

In the process of national identity creation, language has played as central a

role in determining its nature as any other component. Language is the most
visible aspect of culture, and as such language planning has an important
political dimension, for it often determines who will be the haves and have-
nots within a society. The EU is home to a vast array of indigenous languages,
not to mention numerous immigrant languages. It has been the policy of the
EU to acknowledge certain national languages as official languages, but this
has resulted in a privileged status for these languages vis--vis the minority
languages with which they cohabit. The EU has walked a policy tightrope
where it has simultaneously supported national languages to prevent the hege-
mony of a single language such as English, while it has also undermined those
languages domestically by promoting their competitors within those countries
minority languages. This policy can only be understood when one examines
the new model for European identity in which identity should be variable
and multi-faceted, rooted in the ability to shift between languages both via
multilingual facility as well as psychologically by not relying on a monolithic
source of identity. What will hopefully emerge are new and tolerant Union
citizens, capable of finding unity within their common diversities.74 Whether
this will be a successful endeavor depends upon the skill of EU policy-makers
in navigating the minefield between efficiency demands, member state insec-
urities and the desire to protect speakers of minority languages. All this will
have to be achieved without repeating the errors of past nationalisms that
allowed Others to develop within the polity that are not part of the political
and social process (i.e., immigrants). Let us hope that the EUs optimism can
also translate into success.

Notes

1. Ernest Gellner, On Nationalism, in Nationalism, eds. Anthony Smith and John

Hutchinson (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994), 5762.
266 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

2. Adrian Hastings, The Construction of Nationhood (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1997), 21.
3. Joshua Fishman, Language and Nationalism (Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers,
1972), 69.
4. Florian Coulmas, European Integration and the Idea of the National Language, in A
Language Policy for the European Community: Prospects and Quandaries, ed. Florian
Coulmas (New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991), 18.
5. Bruno De Witte, The Impact of European Community Rules on Linguistic Policies of
the Member States, in A Language Policy for the European Community: Prospects and
Quandaries, ed. Florian Coulmas (New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991), 163.
6. Ayo Bambgbose, Language and the Nation: The Language Question in Sub-Saharan
Africa (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), 14.
7. Brian Weinstein, The Civic Tongue (NY: Longman, 1983), 37.
8. David Laitin, Language Repertoires (NY: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 15.
9. Robert L. Cooper, Language Planning and Social Change (NY: Cambridge University
Press, 1989), 3132.
10. Eric Dacheux, Les strategies de communication persuasive dans lUnion europeene
(Paris: Editions LHarmattan, 1994), 70.
11. Thierry Fontenelle, English and Multilingualism in the European Union, ZAA 47 (1999),
121.
12. Konrad Schrder, Dreisprachigkeit der Unionsbrger ein europischer Traum? ZAA
47 (1999), 155.
13. Wilmya Zimmerman, Die Zukunft der Sprachen in Europa: Zur Sprachenpolitik in der
EU, ZAA 47 (1999), 167.
14. Carsten Quell, Language Choice in Multilingual Institutions: A Case Study at the
European Commission with Particular Reference to the Role of English, French, and
German as Working Languages, Multilingua 16 (1997), 63.
15. J.A. Laponce, Languages and Their Territories (Buffalo: University of Toronto Press,
1987), 168.
16. Marcel Machill, Background to French Language Policy and Its Impact on the Media,
European Journal of Communication 12 (1997), 499.
17. David Laitin, The Cultural Identities of a European State, Politics & Society 25 (1997),
288.
18. Quell, 61,72.
19. Abram De Swann, The Evolving European Language System: A Theory of Communi-
cation Potential and Language Competition, International Political Science Review 14
(1993), 246.
20. Quell, 71.
21. John Borneman and Nick Fowler, Europeanization, Annual Review of Anthropology 26
(1997), 499.
22. Schrder, 156.
23. R.B. Le Page, The National Language Question (New York: Oxford University Press,
1964), 9.
24. Paul P. Gubbins, Sense and Pense: An Alternative Language Policy for Europe, in
Language, Culture and Communication in Contemporary Europe, ed. Charlotte Hoffman
(Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 1996), 124.
25. Quell, 72.
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE 267

26. Miquel Reniu i Tresserras, A Language Policy for Europe, in Watching Ones Tongue:
Issues in Language Planning, ed. Mairead Nic Craith (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1996), 64.
27. Dennis Ager, Language, Community and the State (Exeter: Intellect Books, 1997), 81.
28. Arend Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977).
29. Matthias Koenig, Cultural Diversity and Language Policy, International Social Science
Journal 51 (1999), 405.
30. Zimmerman, 165.
31. Cris Shore, Inventing the Peoples Europe: Critical Approaches to European
Community Cultural Policy, Man (N.S.) 28 (1993), 787.
32. Ernest Gellner, On Nationalism, in Nationalism, eds. Anthony Smith and John
Hutchinson (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994), 56.
33. Coulmas, 13.
34. Gubbins, 126.
35. Fontenelle, 123.
36. Laitin 1997, 288289.
37. Schrder, 159.
38. Joint Interpreting & Conference Service, Multilingualism: The Key to Success, SCIC
multilingualism home page Online. December 1999.
39. Coulmas, 16.
40. Coulmas, 14.
41. Machill, 496.
42. Gubbins, 126.
43. Hartmut Haberland, Reflections about Minority Languages in the European
Community, in A Language Policy for the European Community: Prospects and
Quandaries, ed. Florian Coulmas (New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991), 182.
44. Giulio Lepschy, Le lingue degli europei, in Storia dEuropa: Volume primo LEuropa
Oggi, eds. Anderson, Perry et al. (Turin, Italy: Giulio Einaudi, 1993), 893.
45. Machill, 495.
46. De Witte, 175.
47. Laitin 1997, 289.
48. Reniu i Tresserras, 65.
49. Thomas Herbst, 11 + x = 1? ZAA 47 (1999), IX.
50. Nick Roche, Multilingualism in European Community Meetings a Pragmatic
Approach, in A Language Policy for the European Community: Prospects and
Quandaries, ed. Florian Coulmas (New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991), 145.
51. Laitin 1997, 298.
52. Herbst VIII.
53. Coulmas, 27.
54. Schrder, 156.
55. John Edwards, Language and Disadvantage, 2nd ed. (London: Whurr Publishers Ltd.,
1989), 126127.
56. Schrder, 156.
57. Eric Beck, Language Rights and Turkish Children in Germany, Patterns of Prejudice
(April 1999), 11.
58. Neill Nugent, The Government and Politics of the European Union, 4th ed. (Durham:
Duke University Press, 1999), 71.
59. Shore, 786.
268 ALEXANDER CAVIEDES

60. Michael J. Baun, An Imperfect Union: The Maastricht Treaty and the New Politics of
European Integration (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996), 145146.
61. Borneman and Fowler, 489.
62. Cooper, 5962.
63. Harald Haarmann, Language Politics and the European Identity, in A Language Policy
for the European Community: Prospects and Quandaries, ed. Florian Coulmas (New
York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991), 108.
64. Michael Ignatieff, Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism (NY: The
Noonday Press, 1993), 245.
65. Shore, 784.
66. Borneman and Fowler, 492.
67. Koenig, 402.
68. Borneman and Fowler, 499.
69. Zimmerman, 165.
70. Konrad Ehlich, Linguistic Integration and Identity the Situation of Migrant Workers
in the EC as a Challenge and Opportunity, in A Language Policy for the European
Community: Prospects and Quandaries, ed. Florian Coulmas (New York: Mouton de
Gruyter, 1991), 196.
71. Habermas Jrgen, Citizenship and National Identity, in The Nationalism Reader, eds.
Omar Dahbour and Micheline R. Ishay (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press
International, 1995), 337.
72. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of
Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1983), 23.
73. Stephen Barbour, Language and National Identity in Europe; Theoretical and Prac-
tical Problems, in Language, Culture and Communication in Contemporary Europe, ed.
Charlotte Hoffman (Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 1996), 40.
74. Paul James, Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community (London: Sage
Publications, 1996), 145.

Biographical note

Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Spring 2003, will begin dissertation field research at the Freie Universitt,
Berlin. Received J.D. from the University of Florida (1993) and LL.M.eur
from Universitt of the Saarland (1996). Practiced immigration law from
199799. Dissertation deals with comparative W. European labor immig-
ration policy (Germany and the UK). Interests include Western European
political economy and European Union politics generally, with particular
concentration on labor immigration policies.