A victory for the language of Dante

In 2004 Italy lodged a complaint against an EU-external call for tenders by the EU which was issued in only three languages. The European Court of Justice has now ruled in Italy's favour. The daily La Repubblica sees the decision as a triumph for the language of Dante Alighieri: "Together with other countries, including Spain and Lithuania, Italy has taken up arms against the tyranny of English and French, which German presumed to join. ... The defence of the diversity of languages and their equality continues, the voices of those who want all languages represented at EU meetings, even those considered exotic by the majority of Europeans, like Gaelic and Maltese, have grown louder. These are legitimate demands, even if for Brussels, which has long since been renamed Babel, multilingualism and the tonnes of extra documents and protocols that need to be translated each day represent a major problem."

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