Frankrijk leidt 2000 docenten op om de Franse taal in uitgebreide EU te stimuleren (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Paris is to train 2000 teachers over the next three years in a bid to promote the French language in the enlarged EU.

The French Foreign Ministry yesterday announced the three-year plan, designed, they say, to promote the language in the 10 new EU member states as well as Bulgaria and Romania.

Each wave of enlargement in the European Union in recent decades has resulted in an increase in the prominence of English in Europe, often to the detriment of French.

Indeed the number of European Commissioners from the new member states who speak Russian is said to be more than those who speak French.

According to the Foreign Ministry, which is also responsible for Francophonie overseas, the operation will come in two stages.

The initial phase of the operation has been dubbed "100 Teachers for a Multilingual Europe" by the French authorities.

This phase will see 100 young French teachers meet with Foreign Minister and former Commissioner Michel Barnier to discuss "new prospects for promoting French in a multilingual Europe".

The later phase is expected to see the training of some 2000 teachers to be deployed after 2006.