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A Lingua Franca in the post-Brexit EU

Author

Listed:
  • Victor Ginsburgh

    (ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium and CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium)

  • Juan D. Moreno-Ternero

    (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide;)

Abstract

Confidence in the institutions of the EU was obviously shocked by the intention of Great Britain to Brexit. We suggest introducing a lingua franca in the EU which could partly repair this irritation, as surveys show that citizens would be very favourable to such an idea. We also advocate that the EU should help member countries by contributing to the cost of such an endeavour. Each country would have the right to claim a compensation based on the number of young citizens who do not (yet) speak the chosen common language. The EU budget would then be distributed fairly, in proportion to the claims. We assume that the choice should be made among three languages: English (yes, even if Brexit takes place), German and French, and analyze the pros and cons of each of them. We finally look at what the existing voting procedures used by EU bodies would lead to. The result of such a vote is far from being obvious, and maybe the vote should be left to countries, with the exception of those whose native languages are English, German and French.

Suggested Citation

  • Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2019. "A Lingua Franca in the post-Brexit EU," Working Papers 19.10, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pab:wpaper:19.10
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ginsburgh, Victor & Fidrmuc, Jan & Weber, Shlomo, 2007. "Ever Closer Union or Babylonian Discord? The Official-language Problem in the European Union," CEPR Discussion Papers 6367, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno‐Ternero, 2018. "Compensation schemes for learning a Lingua Franca in the European Union," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7), pages 1775-1789, July.
    3. Fidrmuc, Jan & Ginsburgh, Victor & Weber, Shlomo, 2009. "Voting on the choice of core languages in the European Union," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 56-62, March.
    4. Ginsburgh, Victor & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D. & Weber, Shlomo, 2017. "Ranking languages in the European Union: Before and after Brexit," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 139-151.
    5. Ginsburgh, Victor & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D. & Weber, Shlomo, 2017. "Ranking languages in the European Union: Before and after Brexit," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 139-151.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno‐Ternero, 2022. "Brexit and multilingualism in the European Union," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 708-731, May.
    2. Neriman HOCAOĞLU BAHADIR, 2020. "The official language status of English within the EU institutions after Brexit," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 11, pages 293-308, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    European Union; lingua franca; resource allocation; sacrifices; Brexit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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