The European Union has 24 official languages, 3 working languages that dominate its institutions, hundreds of recognised regional and minority languages, and a foundational motto — “United in Diversity” — that treats linguistic plurality as a feature rather than a bug. In a world where English has become the de facto global language of science, business, diplomacy and digital culture, what does it mean to be multilingual Europe? Is linguistic diversity a cultural treasure, a democratic necessity, an economic cost — or all three simultaneously?
The spread of English and what it changes
The most significant trend in European language use over the past three decades is the dramatic expansion of English as a second language across all EU member states. Eurobarometer surveys from the 1990s showed fewer than a third of EU citizens able to hold a conversation in English; by 2025, the figure exceeds 60% across the bloc, with rates above 90% in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Among Europeans aged 18–34, English proficiency is near-universal in northern and western EU countries.
This expansion changes the nature of the European public sphere in ways that are genuinely complex. A young Portuguese professional, a Polish IT worker, and a Danish student can all communicate with each other in English — creating a genuinely transnational European conversation that was not practically possible a generation ago. But that conversation happens in a language that is not native to any of them, which introduces subtle asymmetries. Native English speakers — primarily Irish citizens within the EU — have an advantage that other Europeans must work to overcome. And the cultural content, idioms and frames of reference that English carries with it are not neutral: they import Anglo-American cultural assumptions that may not map cleanly onto continental European contexts.
The regional language renaissance
While English has expanded at the supranational level, regional and minority languages have experienced a significant cultural revival across Europe. Catalan, Basque, Welsh, Breton, Scots Gaelic, Frisian, Sorbian and dozens of others have benefited from political devolution, cultural nationalism and — crucially — digital media that allows small language communities to create and share content in ways that were not previously possible. Welsh-medium education in Wales has expanded dramatically; Catalan-language media and entertainment have found new audiences. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which obliges signatory states to protect and promote these languages, has created a framework that many communities use effectively as a political tool.
The trend has a political dimension that cannot be separated from the cultural one. Regional language revival frequently overlaps with political autonomy movements — in Catalonia, Scotland, the Basque Country — where linguistic distinctiveness is both a genuine cultural value and a marker of political identity that functions as an argument for self-governance. As explored in our French political analysis, the relationship between linguistic minorities and central states remains a live political issue across several EU countries.
Translation, democracy and the cost of diversity
The EU spends approximately €1 billion annually on translation and interpretation — a figure that critics of the multilingual approach cite as evidence of its inefficiency, and defenders point to as the cost of ensuring that citizens in all member states can access EU law and participate in democratic processes in their own language. The democratic argument is the stronger one: an EU that conducted all business in three working languages would systematically disadvantage citizens in member states where those languages are not widely spoken. The translation cost, spread across 450 million citizens, amounts to roughly €2 per person per year — a price that seems reasonable for a democratic guarantee. The challenge lies not in the cost of diversity but in ensuring that diversity coexists with the kind of mutual comprehension that makes a genuinely shared European public life possible.
