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Marko Modiano
The challenges caused by the dominance of English in many domains across the European Union (EU), the lack of a viable programme to promote plurilingualism, as well as the problematic nature of having three procedural languages, are scrutinised against the call for Europe to come to terms with its language policy. Issues such as official EU standards for documentation, as well as school guidelines for language education, are investigated from the perspective of envisioning a sanctioned second-language variety of European English. The increased use of English in higher education as a result of Erasmus+ is brought forward as an example of the EU providing funds to support English at the expense of all other indigenous European languages. Moreover, the current order of allowing standard British English special status is criticised as a position which acts as an obstacle to European identity building. It is argued that recognising the importance of the ongoing nativisation processes currently taking place in the use of L2 English in the EU can pave the way for the citizens of the EU to take responsibility for the forms and functions which English will have for mainland Europe. Here, the goal of language learning to facilitate European and global cross-cultural communication is explored, as is the claim that a rendition of a European variety of English bolsters the prospects of identity formation in the EU.
