Language Barrier: Brits Underrepresented at EC Due to Lack of Multilingual Skills

The world is getting smaller, so it is said, and being able to communicate across cultures is a crucial skill. Though English is a widely spoken language for business, it is not adequate for work in the European Commission. Of course, it might help if successive British governments were a tad more enthusiastic about their European-ness. The following article from Frances Robinson at the Wall Street Journal Europe explains why hopeful British eurocrats are finding it hard to land jobs there.


"Working as a European Union civil servant, or fonctionnaire, is a pretty sweet deal. The entry-level starting salary is €4,350 ($5,950) a month and top grades get €16,000—not subject to Belgian tax, or any other country's for that matter*—your children can go to the European School for free, you get an unfathomably generous amount of holiday, and you can spend Thursday nights on Brussels's Place du Luxembourg drinking in Ralph's Bar flirting with stagiaires.

With U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron cutting costs in Whitehall, now would seem like the ideal time for would-be civil servants to hop on the Eurostar and start their career in the EU institutions. But in fact, the U.K. is woefully underrepresented in Brussels: According the Foreign Office, the U.K. makes up 12% of the EU's population yet Brits hold only 6% of EU civil-service posts and 1.8% of those at entry level. Why?

The main reason is a question of language. To land a job at the European Commission, you first have to take the admission exams, known as the concours, in a second language. The first round consists of verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning, before interviews and further exams, also in the foreign language of your choice. Hence reports that Mr. Cameron had asked Commission President José Manuel Barroso for a one-off concours, in English only, to help his monoglot island.

This was met with a giant non from the EU. "There is a problem of increasing underrepresentation of U.K. citizens in the EU institutions," EU spokesman Olivier Bailly told reporters Monday. "We said in behalf of the Commission that one language was not an option as it would be illegal; there are other options."

Since 2004, it has no longer been compulsory for British children to study a language up to the age of 16, meaning many only get two years of exposure to language learning, which only starts at age 12 in the U.K. state system. This is merely Britain's latest display of indifference for language learning; while many top universities in mainland Europe teach part or all of their degree courses in English, British universities teach in… English.

The European Personnel Selection Office, EPSO, which tests candidates, is making some concessions. "You have to be able to use both languages, because the staff regulation requires as a 'thorough and satisfactory knowledge' of two working languages," says Luc Gillis from the EPSO candidate contact service. "We are taking the necessary measures, so for the next cycle of concours, you can take the reasoning tests in your first language."

This still leaves would-be fonctionnaires having to do the interviews in their second language; and while "voolay voo coochay avec moi ce soir" might be enough for a good night in the Place Lux it won't help when the College of Europe alumni are discussing the finer points of comitology with the examiner. In Lithuanian.

A secondary problem is awareness in the U.K. of Brussels careers. In 2010, according to the BBC, the U.K. sent 755 candidates, while France put in 4,300 and Italy saw 8,478 of its citizens take part. As with anything else, you have to be in it to win it.

The FCO (that's Foreign & Commonwealth Office for those who forget Britain's residual imperial ambitions) promises a "raft of online information to raise awareness" about working in the EU and how to get through the EU selection process: blogs, videos and case studies are all at the ready.

Nor is the British argument for wanting more Brussels jobs spurious. A Foreign Office spokeswoman says it's "very important" to lift the number of British Eurocrats to ensure "U.K. ways of thinking are well-represented." Moreover, many of the Brits currently there are set to retire soon, having joined in 1973 along with the country itself. Their departures will leave the U.K. even more adrift in Brussels at a time when the Tories have broken away from the major right-leaning European parliamentary group, and plans to change the treaty are signed off at Franco-German love-ins in Normandy.

Ultimately, there's no easy way out. The vast majority of candidates take the concours in English and, despite a heroic rearguard action on behalf of French by Commissioners Michel Barnier and Antonio Tajani, it is increasingly the sole working language of the Commission. It's therefore ironic that it is this dependency on English that bars Brits from getting jobs there, especially when native speakers' influence might help cut through the swathes of jargon that typify edicts from the Berlaymont.

On the other hand, rewarding the U.K.'s education policy on languages and encouraging the British to think they are an exception to the EU rule may not seem right in an environment founded on the aim of enhancing cross-border understanding.

*From the Commission website: As a European civil servant, your salary is not subject to national income tax. Instead, salaries paid by the Commission to its officials are directly subject to a Community tax which is paid directly back into the EU's budget. This tax is levied progressively at a rate of between 8% and 45% of the taxable portion of your salary.