Within a European context, it appears rather inadequate to speak of the maintenance of linguistic and cultural diversity. For, even though the principle of linguistic equality has formally been ensured by the law from the inception of the process of European integration, it has increasingly become a mere fiction within the legislation, administration, and judicial interpretation of European Law. As the concept(s) of European integration will be applied both to a larger number of countries and to a broader spectrum of policies, this process is very likely to continue. National administrations, and citizens, should therefore be advised to adapt to the factual dominance of (legal) English and French — unless the difficult decision to defend and re-establish linguistic equality against the unifying tendency of European integration could be made without harming the European project as a whole.
European Review of Private Law