Abstract
In 1919, after many debates, the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George concluded that the Versailles treaty would be written both in French and English. Since then, English has imposed itself in diplomacy, economic exchanges, Medias and so on. Nowadays, it seems that this language has gained a very important role. Despite this general tendency of the spread of English, the European Union has instituted a policy of linguistic diversity and refused to choose one language or another in the work of its institutions. The introduction of the Laeken Declaration illustrates this will: "At long last, Europe is on its way to becoming one big family, without bloodshed, a real transformation...a continent of humane values, of liberty, solidarity and above all diversity, meaning respect for others' cultures, languages and traditions" . There are now twenty-three languages recognized by the European Union. There is even a European commissioner devoted to multilingualism (Leonard Orban).
