The use of English as a supranational language in European institutions
As Europe is made up of independent nation states, it is normally at that level that the official language policies governing public life are defined. In fact, other entities compete with them. We have seen the situation in the multinational companies. International organisations such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and the European Union have been set up since the second world war.
The powers and resources conferred on the EU give it a real supranational power. We must therefore examine the extent to which this supranational power is also exercised in linguistic matters.