French or English?

French has traditionally been the diplomatic lingua franca of Europe. Can it survive the challenge from English?

A new survey suggests that English has overtaken French as Europe's second language. More than two-thirds of those polled claim some knowledge of the language.

France recently launched a failed bid for their language to be made the sole official language of the EU headquarters in Brussels. French official argued that their mother tongue was "more precise".

More Speak English

But the report by Eurostat found that only 12% of people wanted to be French speakers. 66% wanted to speak English and 20% German.

"English is far ahead of any other as the first choice as a foreign language," the report said. "Behind English, people are choosing to learn German and Russian. Knowledge of French as a foreign language is low."

There are increasing calls for the EU to cut back on the £1 billion it spends every year translating official documents into its 23 recognised languages.

A British official said: "Governments across the EU are reining in their spending and EU institutions should do exactly the same."

Common Language?

Last month, Pascal Smet, a Flemish-speaking Belgian politician controversially called for English to become Europe's "common language".

"English is already the lingua franca of international economics and politics. French is not spoken anywhere in the world while English is now increasingly becoming a global language."

Mr Smet angered French-speaking Belgians. They pointed out that French is still used in many parts of the world, particularly in Africa.

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